The last 365 days for New York Giants receiver Darius Slayton have been a rollercoaster that has taught him that he's not a fan of the business side of football.
Heading into training camp last year, Slayton, the team's fifth-round pick in 2019, not only had to take a pay cut to remain with the team but there was speculation that he might not even make it out of training camp for a fourth season.
But Slayton kept his head down, even admitting that part of the reason behind his slow start last year was his own doing.
"I made a lot of plays during camp, but I hurt my hamstring, which held me out of practice for a while and didn't allow me to showcase my full abilities," he said Monday during a video call with reporters.
"There's always a lot of, a lot of ways you could look at things, but to me, I look at it as if I stretched more if I had prepared myself more, if I had just done different things, I would've never hurt myself, and I would've had a chance to show my full ability and what I'm capable of.
"I always like to take responsibility for what I, my part in whatever it is that negatively impacts me, and I do my best to correct it," he added.
So no, there were no feelings of having been done wrong by the team on Slayton's part driving any desire for him to leave. Despite the hardships that he went through earlier last season, he has no ill will towards the Giants and strives to take the emotion out of football.
“I try not to bring emotion into things that aren't emotional," he said. "You go out there, and you make plays and the people that make the decisions play the people who make plays. So, at the end of the day, when it comes to football, I look at what I can do better."
Slayton did just that. After being a healthy scratch in Week 1 game in Tennessee and only seeing 18 offensive snaps the next two weeks, he suddenly saw his role expand significantly as injuries and performance issues affecting those receivers in front of him popped up.
Fast forward to January, and suddenly Slayton was the Giants’ leading receiver for the third time in four years. He also reached 700+ yards for the third time in his career.
All of that was good enough for multiple teams to express interest in Slayton, but returning to the Giants to play with Daniel Jones trumped all the other offers.
“It would've been kind of crazy to leave after building all these bricks and then as soon as we get the thing built to just jump off the top," he said.
"I wanted to stick around, be at the top, and take in the view myself. I think just some of the guys we've been able to sign and go get just a testament to what we've been able to build here and you know, what (offensive coordinator Mike Kafka) and (head coach Brian Daboll) and those guys have been able to bring to us.”
Slayton also spoke warmly of the relationships he built in the building, saving his best words for his quarterback.
“Honestly, I might have been happier for his deal than my own," Slayton said of Jones's new four-year, $160 million contract. "For everything that it's taken for him to get here and see how people viewed him before and how they view him now.
"Anybody who follows me on Twitter knows Daniel Jones slander is not tolerated on my timeline, and that'll be that way to the day I die."
The bond between Slayton and Jones dates back t when they were both rookies in 2019, Jones the sixth overall pick in the draft and Slayton the 171st overall pick in the class.
That spring, the two rookies seemed to have an instant connection during the rookie minicamp, which would spill over into the regular season, where Slayton finished as the team leader in receiving touchdowns with eight of Jones's 24 scores.
Slayton said it was Jones's demeanor and effort to find out what kind of routes he liked that helped win him over.
"A lot of quarterbacks are like, 'Oh, let me throw a hitch or slant something.' But I think from that moment on, at least in my head, I was like, 'I can work with this guy.' As we played together, and I made plays for him, and he made plays for me, that trust and that connection builds,” Slayton said.
Slayton returns to a vastly improved receiver/tight end room that includes a lot more speed in the forms of tight end Darren Waller and Parris Campbell.
“We got a lot of guys that can fly," Slayton said. "I think that's only going to help our team. It's only gonna make the competition around here better. So I'm looking forward to competing alongside these guys.”
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