Eagles Rumors: Latest Trade Buzz Surrounding Darius Slay

The Philadelphia Eagles have had to wait to find an answer to their defensive back issues.

The NFC East side missed out on signing top free-agent cornerback Byron Jones and lost out on Chris Harris Jr., who told ESPN's Josina Anderson that he's headed to the Los Angeles Chargers.

After striking out on those options, the Eagles could use a trade to improve their secondary talent. According to Anderson, "there are ongoing discussions regarding the framework of a three-year extension as part of a trade that would send Darius Slay to the Eagles."

Slay's future was pushed into the forefront of the NFL rumor mill Wednesday, when the Detroit Lions signed Desmond Trufant.

Slay quote-tweeted the report of Trufant's signing from ESPN's Adam Schefter by saying "Congrats to my guy!!!! Hope that speeds up my trade process!!"

The 29-year-old made $12,550,000 during the 2019 season, and he has not received a new contract from the Lions. He is expected to be an unrestricted free agent after the 2020 campaign.

During Super Bowl week in Miami, Slay talked about the situation with the Lions in a radio interview, per Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press.

"Whatever it needs to be," Slay said. "If they give me the contract, I'll be blessed and fortunate enough for it. Like I say, I always wanted to retire as a Detroit Lion. But if it don't happen, it's cool. I'll be all right. Like I said, if I don't, somebody will be getting a great player."

Since the Lions appear to have his replacement in Trufant, the process to deal Slay could speed up.

SiriusXM's Adam Caplan noted the Eagles "were in deep talks" to trade for Slay in October.

The Eagles gave up 3,865 passing yards and 27 aerial scores in 2019, and they conceded more than 250 passing yards in five of their final six contests. The pursuit of Slay makes sense following the failure to secure a marquee free-agent cornerback.

Anderson reported the Eagles were one of four teams that "discussed interest" in Jones before he agreed to a deal with the Miami Dolphins. Schefter noted Monday that any of the franchises that missed out on Jones "could wind up trading" for Slay.

Sports7Denver's Troy Renck, meanwhile, mentioned the Eagles as one of the teams making a "strong push" for Harris before he opted to go to the Chargers.

Philadelphia's interest in Slay likely increased once it missed out on Jones and Harris, but a move will not come cheap.

Slay is scheduled to make $10 million in 2020 on his deal with the Lions, and the Eagles already have five players in line to earn more than $10 million next season.

The Eagles still have $35.4 million in salary-cap space to work with, and if they acquire Slay, they should have enough cash to sign him and make a few more additions.

Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90. Statistics obtained from Pro Football Reference. Contract information obtained from Spotrac.