ESPN gives Darius Slayton his due
Darius Slayton of the New York Giants has been named the NFL’s most underrated wide receiver by Aaron Schatz of ESPN.
Schatz judged an underrated player at every position in the league. Here is his criteria:
It could be that a player is misconstrued as good when they’re actually great. It could mean a player is considered average by fans, but he’s actually above average on the field. It can even point to a player being acceptably productive despite being criticized for being subpar.
Why Slayton? Schatz writes:
Slayton wasn’t supposed to be anything special as a fifth-round pick in 2019, but he started nine games and caught eight touchdown passes in his rookie season. Sure, he hasn’t come anywhere close to that end zone production since then. But the Giants played Slayton alongside Malik Nabers last season, and you need at least two starting wide receivers to survive in the modern NFL. Slayton caught 39 passes for 573 yards, which was convincing enough for the Giants to bring him back on a three-year, $36 million contract.
Advanced metrics support the move since Slayton has had a positive receiving DVOA (defense-adjusted value over average) for three straight seasons. And it’s not like he has done that while working with any of the NFL’s best quarterbacks. With Russell Wilson, Jameis Winston and/or Jaxson Dart under center in 2025, Slayton should continue to work as a deep threat opposite Nabers. He’ll probably put up another quietly productive and surprisingly efficient season.
Slayton is an interesting choice by Schatz. Throughout much of his six-year career with the Giants, Slayton was the best wide receiver on bad teams that generally featured sub-par quarterback play.
Four times in six years Slayton has finished with more than 700 yards receiving, leading the Giants in that category in each of those years.
Drafted by Dave Gettleman in 2019, Slayton has had to fight for his respect since Joe Schoen became general manager and Brian Daboll head coach in 2022.
in 2022, Slayton was forced to take a pay cut from $2.54 million to the minimum of $965,000 to remain with the Giants. He was then forced to earn his playing time. Slayton was inactive Week 1 of that season, did not catch his first pass until Week 4 and still led the Giants in receiving yards that season with 724.
Despite his production, Slayton ended up taking a below-market two-year, $12 million contract from the Giants in 2023.
It was not until this offseason, which came after his production fell to 39 receptions and 573 receiving yards largely due to the presence of Malik Nabers, that Slayton was finally financially reward by the Giants. He signed a three-year, $36 million contract with $22 million guaranteed.
