When cornerback Darius Slay was drafted by the Lions in 2013, his agent introduced him to Rod Woodson, the Hall of Fame cornerback who played most of his career with the Steelers. Woodson invited Slay to stay at his home while the two of them worked out together and talked about life in the NFL.
Now Slay is a Steeler, and he says he’s eager to work with young players the same way that Woodson worked with him.
“Rod Woodson, that was my mentor coming in when I got drafted,” Slay said. “When I got drafted I stayed at his house for about a month and a half, learned football from him.
Slay said Woodson taught him about taking care of his body, Xs and Os, and approaching the game like a professional.
“He was telling me to always be healthy, stay out of the tub, basically make sure you’ll be able to play,” Slay said. “He taught me a lot of formations, route recognitions, and mostly he had me on the track a lot. Other than that he just coached me ball and just taught me about life.”
The 34-year-old Slay thinks a big part of his role in Pittsburgh will be helping young defensive backs get better.
“That’s the best part of my job,” Slay said. “That’s one of the biggest roles I like to take, is mentoring young guys, because a guy did it for me. . . . I’m here to always help them get better. You ask me about any DB in the game, I can tell you what their weakness is and what their strength is, because that’s how much tape I watch of DBs. It’s going to be fun.”
It will be fun for the Steelers if Slay can have the kind of success he had in Philadelphia, where he won a Super Bowl ring in his final game, giving him an experience he can share with younger players in Pittsburgh.
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