Buffalo Rumblings
The Buffalo Bills’ relationship with cornerback Darius Slay Jr. was over before it began. After successfully claiming Slay on waivers earlier this week following his release by the Pittsburgh Steelers, only for the veteran cornerback to rebuff One Bills Drive by refusing to report, Buffalo has now placed Slay on the Reserve/did not report list.
The move allows the Bills to retain Slay’s rights, and he doesn’t count toward Buffalo’s 53-man active roster. By initially claiming Slay, he was set to count as part of their active roster. To make room for him, the Bills had to release someone in-house, which ended up exposing cornerback Ja’Marcus Ingram to waivers. Ingram was subsequently claimed by the Houston Texans after they placed former Bills defensive tackle Tim Settle Jr. on Injured Reserve.
It became clear almost immediately that Slay was looking to return to the Philadelphia Eagles, where he played in two Super Bowls, winning one as part of the 2024 roster. The Eagles had also placed a claim, but the Bills were ahead of Philadelphia in the processing order.
Slay instead decided it was Philly or bust, and claimed he wasn’t certain about his playing future after learning he was Buffalo bound. Now, Slay will forfeit $350,000 in salary that was due to him over the course of the final five weeks of the 2025 regular season. If Slay wants to play football again this season, it’s going to be with the Bills. He can’t be picked up by another team until free agency opens for the 2026 NFL season.
There’s also another potentially interesting development here for the Bills (as pointed out by Mike Florio with NBC Sports), which could see them trying to recover a portion of the $8.745 million signing bonus the Pittsburgh Steelers paid out to Slay as part of the terms on his one-year $10 million deal in the Steel City.The Steelers took on $8.5 million of Slay’s salary in the form of a bonus upon his release.
In a corresponding move, the Bills claimed safety Darnell Savage on Friday, December 5 after the Washington Commanders released him.
