Q. Slay, talk about how excited you are to join this organization.
DARIUS SLAY: Man, just a great opportunity, and Coach Mike T for sure, I always speak highly on him, always been watching him from afar, and a lot of guys I looked up to as players came here and just always told me great things, like Pat P, Joe Haden was one of my favorite corners growing up when I was young, even though we ain't that far apart, but I always used to watch him a lot, heavy.
Cam did a great job, just always mentioning him. What's also crazy is Ron Woodson, that was my mentor coming in. When I got drafted I stayed at his house for about a month and a half, learned football from him. Yeah, that's another good part of my reasons, too.
Q. How did that come about?
DARIUS SLAY: We had the same agent, Eugene Parker, God rest his soul, and he introduced me to him, and that's how he kind of drawn me to sign with him. He had a lot of guys he looked up to in this game. He had Deion, Rod, and a couple other guys I used to look up to, and I got a great opportunity to meet both of them, and both of them gave me a lot of great advice about ball and everything.
Q. What stick with you about what Rod told you?
DARIUS SLAY: Really, he kind of was telling me always be healthy, stay out in the tubs, basically means make sure you're able to play. He taught me a lot of formations and route recognitions and mostly he had me on the track, too, a lot. He had me heavy on the track. But other than that, he really just coached me ball and really just taught me about life.
Q. Late this year before the Eagles and Steelers played each other, you mentioned in the podcast this was something that was pretty close to happening a couple years ago. How did you get it across the finish line this time?
DARIUS SLAY: Two years ago when it happened, the Eagles kind of released me, they did not let it clear, I guess. They were just like, we're not releasing you, let's just work out a deal, and we came to a great number, and then I stayed. But fortunately this time I got a great opportunity now to come over here and play in this black and yellow, gold, however it is. I'm ready for it, though.
Q. Did that consideration last time kind of play into --
DARIUS SLAY: Of course. Of course. It was one of my first choices. Like I said, Cam definitely when he saw the report, he was like, Slay, you should come over here. I'm like, man, if they reach out, I'm with it, and they did, and I'm thankful that they did, so I got a great opportunity.
Q. Knowing how important it sounds like mentors have been to you, how much do you like mentoring some of the younger corners and working with someone like Joe porter, junior?
DARIUS SLAY: It's going to be great, man. I love that. That's the best part of my job. I love meeting new people. Some people don't like meeting folks. I love meeting folks. I love having extended family because I like just to meet people. I'm very outgoing, and that's one of the biggest roles I like to take, just helping mentor younger guys because guys did that for me, so I've got to return the favor for me in my way, and that's how I do it, and I do it with genuine love, not by force. It's because I want them to be great. I want them to always be better than me. Every guy I ever had under me, my job is to make sure they'd be better than me, as a player, person, everything.
Q. Has enough time passed since the Super Bowl that you have an appreciation for whether or not it changed you as a player, and if so, how?
DARIUS SLAY: I mean, yeah, it changed it a little bit. It changed something on my resume.
But other than that, man, it was a great feeling. Something I'll probably never -- I never thought I'd experience something that crazy, just winning the Super Bowl. I told my wife that this is the closest thing to my kids. I love all my kids, my family and everything, but man, it's a whole 'nother feeling with that confetti falling on you.
I was on my high horse for about a good month and a half. Now it's kind of calmed down, but I'm ready to feel that again, though.
Q. What do you remember about TA, and how excited are you to play under him?
DARIUS SLAY: It's going to be great. I got him at a young age, second year in the league, and that's the first person that I had met when I got to -- right when I came back to Detroit, and the first thing he said was like, I love you as a corner, I watched you when you came out, and I'm going to make sure you're one of the best, and he pushed me every day. He made me do scout team reps with Calvin Johnson when I was on first-team D.
He made sure I got to where I need to be. We watched film together every morning. He helped me become who I am today, and I always looked at him as a father figure because we stayed in contact even after he left Detroit, he went to the Saints and he was talking and then he come here, his nickname for me since he's been here has been "Top 5." Every time he sees me, Top 5, Top 5. We've got a great relationship. He helped me get my first all-pro. I'm always looking forward to working with him.
Q. What has helped you at this stage of your career continue to be so productive?
DARIUS SLAY: Honestly, I've got to give another good shout-out to TA. He taught me early at a young age don't use your talent as much. Only use your God-given when you need to, and what he means by that is come in the film room rack, so I kind of learned the game real quick, real early, and people think I'm moving fast as I possibly can but I'm not because I just know they're going probably before they're going. That comes from, like, watching film with TA and just trying to make sure I use my ability as long as I possibly can.
Q. Any trepidation joining a team with a quarterback that's to be determined?
DARIUS SLAY: Oh, of course. I've been watching this organization for a long time, and I can say I trust this organization more than anything, just from the outside looking in. Definitely with Coach, as you can see, I want to bring his resume up, but he has not had a losing season for a reason. I do trust him, and whatever he's got going, I'm with it.
Q. One of the guys that is potentially in the mix is Aaron Rodgers, someone you've faced a number of times in your career. Do you have any thoughts on how he plays as a quarterback, and would you like to end up on the same team with him after facing him a number of times?
DARIUS SLAY: Shoot, he was in Green Bay slicing and dicing, so hopefully one of these times he's slicing and dicing and we're on the same team. However it goes. I'm here to play ball. I'll let the front office handle the front office because I trust the front office, and whatever we need to do is what we're doing. I'm just ready to rock.
Q. You talked about prioritizing (indiscernible) at corner. What kind of pride do you take in two rookies that were with you last year and how that worked out?
DARIUS SLAY: My thing is basically make sure they're comfortable. I was not forcing myself upon them as in just like we need to do this, we need to do that because I'm a guy that's a willing worker, and if you're a willing worker, it's easy to go. So me and the young guys, we worked out every day, met up every morning. We worked out on offense doing their drills. We worked out on the side of the field getting our stuff in.
I just like young guys that want to be dedicated to your craft, and if you're not dedicated to your craft, this is not the sport for you. I'm one of the ones that's really dedicated to myself. I don't force feed nothing, but I am going to be here for you, regardless. I don't care what it is. That's how I am.
I think I've got to thank the guy porter for sure. I've been watching his game for a long time. Even though he's been three years, but I watched film on a lot of corners, and he's got a great opportunity, and I'm thankful to be a vet to him, to make sure I help his game.
Q. How are you anticipating training camp with D.K. Metcalf? What do you think about going up against him?
DARIUS SLAY: It's going to be great. It's going to be a great opportunity for me and for them guys, as well. I'm on their team now. Usually I scout against him and making sure -- picking out their weakness. One thing I am going to do is give them the update on what I had on him so I can learn from it.
But it'll be a great challenge, and like I said, I'm always here to help them get better. I'm one of the ones you ask about any DB, about their game, I can tell you what their weakness is or their strength is because that's how much tape I watch of DBs.
Yeah, it could be fun. I'm looking forward to it. It's going to be competitive. I got into it with D.K. before, so it's going to be fun in a good way. But we're going to get after it.
Q. Neither of those guys were on the field in December when you played these guys and things got pretty spicy and chippy. Did you smooth anything over or are you one of those where you have interactions with a lot of teams and players --
DARIUS SLAY: I'm mostly an easygoing dude, so it's going to be smooth. It's just going to be a smooth transition. It's just football. It's just a competitive sport. But we're teammates now, so hey, we're going to jump on other folks.
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FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports