New York Giants News

Home

Quizzes

Watch

Newsletter

New York Giants wide receiver Darius Slayton (86) gestures during warm ups before a game between New York Giants and Indianapolis Colts at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024. Julian Leshay Guadalupe/NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Will WR Darius Slayton Be Called Upon More This Season?

Originally posted on New York Giants on SI
By Stephen Lebitsch | Last updated Jul 2, 2025 2:08 PM ET

The New York Giants haven’t had a lot to celebrate over the last several seasons, but one player they could give themselves a pat on the back for finding and supporting their offense in that span is wide receiver Darius Slayton.

While Slayton, the Giants’ 2019 fifth-round pick out of Auburn, wasn’t a selection made by the Joe Schoen-Brian Daboll regime, the current leadership has seen firsthand the immense value that the veteran wide receiver brings to the team and knew they couldn’t let that slip away in free agency this past spring.

Before his teammate, Malik Nabers, stepped onto the scene in 2024, Slayton held the distinction of being the Giants’ trusty pass catcher. In four of his first five seasons in blue, he led the franchise with 46+ catches, 724+ yards, and 2+ touchdown stints, and has been one of their best deep range targets for whichever quarterback was in control.

Despite all of his success as a late-round selection in an offense that has been more or less mediocre, Slayton’s production had still been limited to an extent by the lackluster efforts of former quarterback Daniel Jones.

The two made their first connection as rookies in 2019, but the gunslinger’s inconsistent processing would take its toll on Slayton’s ability to rack up the numbers like a true No. 1 option.

Sure, the addition of Nabers likely takes that reality away from him, but it didn’t stop Slayton, who some thought would be a free agent loss this offseason, from staying with the Giants for another three years.

He will finally have a much better offensive system around him, particularly at the helm with Russell Wilson taking over, which will enable him to be a more meaningful No. 2 receiver.

Wilson is a quarterback who better fits the talents of the pass catchers around him and can read the field more confidently to pick out which one has the best route progression to execute the play.

That should excite players like Slayton, who might feel like they were often forgotten or overlooked due to a reliance on the checkdown game with Jones under center.

Throughout his tenure in East Rutherford, Slayton has worked hard to transition from a sleeper receiving prospect to a solid player who has proven himself to be a leader and an explosive athlete capable of running with the ball in the open field.

All that’s left to see as he enters his seventh season donning the Giants uniform is whether he can return to his mean, or even better, as he seeks to become one of the best second options in the league.

Darius Slayton, WR

2024 in Review

Slayton appeared in 16 games (all starts) for the Giants and still finished third on the team’s receiving leaderboard. Yet, compared to his usual campaigns, it was a down year for their longest-tenured target, as he posted 39 catches on 71 targets for 573 yards, two touchdowns, and an average of 14.7 yards per reception.

While the presence of Nabers in the offense did have a part in taking away the high-volume games that the Giants used to ask from Slayton, he did manage to tally seven contests with at least three catches, and two of those games with six or more.

In addition, Slayton notched the 100-yard mark in the same number of matches, the first coming in Week 5 against Seattle when he led the Giants with eight receptions for 122 yards and a touchdown in the 29-20 win. Four weeks later, he was efficient again with four grabs for 108 yards and a 27.0 average catch against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

What was impressive was how Slayton was able to overcome inconsistent passing to create long-range opportunities for the offense. He had 11 games where his average haul was in the double-digit range, but that didn’t detract from the many other times he was missed in the open field due to poor quarterback reads and timing.

As a result of the above feat, Slayton finished in the top 50 wide receivers for deep passing work in 2024, according to PFF. He made four receptions (three contested) on 15 targets for 134 yards and one of his touchdowns, a mark good enough for a 74.7 deep passing grade.

Like many of the Giants' receivers, one area the 28-year-old needed to clean up was his drops. As reliable as he has been with the ball in his hands, Slayton only trailed Nabers by one dropped ball (7) and was tied for the fifth-highest across the position group last season.

Follow and like us on Facebook. Visit our YouTube channel for the latest videos. Want to send a question in for our mailbag? You can do so here.

Contract/Cap Info

After testing the open waters of free agency this past March, Slayton re-signed with the Giants on a three-year, $36 million contract that includes $22 million in fully guaranteed money, $9 million of which is a signing bonus.

For the 2025 season, Slayton will receive a base salary of $3,250,005, the 13th highest on the Giants roster, up to $500,000 in per-game roster bonuses, and a $250,000 workout bonus. He will count for $ $6,970,593 against the cap for the upcoming season.

2025 Preview

No matter what the entire Giants organization has been through in recent seasons, it feels like one of the rare players who has stuck through the mud with them has been Slayton.

He has consistently carried that sense of professionalism and leadership through the team's dark days, but one can’t ignore how frustrating the lack of a good offense was becoming to him.

The entire franchise shared that sentiment this offseason and made several necessary adjustments that would hopefully help change the tide for the unit.

That includes the helm, with Russell Wilson projected to be the starter in Week 1, a move that enabled Slayton to buy back into the system and stay in New York as a veteran leader and producer for the huddle.

Having Wilson under center is going to elevate the Giants' offense and make it more powerful and explosive, which plays right into the talents of their pass catchers like Slayton.

They will look for intermediate to deep range completions in open space that will create more opportunities for the receivers to pad their stats and do more damage after the catch.

If all falls into place with protection and health, that should mean a more fruitful bounce-back campaign for Slayton, who the Giants paid good money to keep around their building. He will still have to compete hard for his opportunities, as Malik Nabers will always be the team’s preferred target in the biggest moments of games.

That said, with how much attention Nabers should get from opposing defenses this season, the next look will most likely be in Slayton’s direction.

As long as he makes the plays when they come, he is capable of putting the league on watch to see if the Giants get back to having two 1,000-yard receivers in their arsenal for the first time in over a decade.