It has been a long, winding, and often disappointing, road with the New York for Darius Slayton since he joined the team in 2019.
A fifth-round pick in that 2019 NFL Draft, Slayton has had to earn the respect of three different head coaches. He has had productive seasons and poor ones. He has dealt with far too much losing. He had to take a pay cut to stay with the team a couple of years ago.
Still, with an opportunity to go elsewhere in free agency this past offseason, Slayton chose to return to the Giants for a seventh season, and hopefully more, signing a three-year, $36 million contract.
Slayton, 28, and Dexter Lawrence are now the longest-tenured Giants. That makes Slayton a core player, a veteran with a wide array of experiences and knowledge of life as a Giant that his younger, less experienced teammates can lean on.
Slayton said on Tuesday that he has finally become comfortable being vocal and sharing his experiences with teammates.
“It’s really been my fault,” Slayton said. “I’m not a talker. I have a wealth of knowledge in my brain, and this year I’ve tried to be conscious about sharing that with the guys around me and with the teammates around me.
“I think that it’s been something that’s been beneficial for our team. A lot of guys that I’ve shared things with have expressed appreciation for what I’ve shared. So I’ve tried to come out of my shell more this year than I have in the past and be more vocal and just try to try to impart knowledge and wisdom when I can.”
Current Giants head coach Brian Daboll is certainly one of those who had to be convinced that Slayton was a player who could help the Giants. In 2022, Daboll’s first as the team’s head coach, Slayton did not play Week 1 and did not catch a pass until Week 4.
Despite that, Slayton caught 46 passes for a team-leading 724 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He has earned Daboll’s respect.
“Slayton is an excellent teammate and he’s been that way since I’ve been here,” Daboll said. “He’s been productive in the things that we’ve asked him to do. He’s an excellent leader, and I know people maybe don’t see it but from behind the scenes, and I’d say particularly this year, he’s been vocal, very good communicator, sets the standard on how we should practice and that’s why we wanted him back. I’m glad he signed both times back. He’s an excellent teammate and he’s productive in his craft. He’s a good veteran to have on this football team.”
Daboll understands the ups and downs Slayton has experienced.
“It hasn’t always been easy for him,” Daboll said. “He’s had some rocky times and he’s kind of always persevered – this guy has always persevered when… I know the first year I got here, how it started out and then he just kept on grinding and grinding and you have an appreciation for people like that who are able to weather storms and overcome things and then look pretty good at it coming out from the back side.
“He’s been an excellent teammate. I love coaching him and I’m very impressed with how he’s taken another step in his leadership, particularly the communication, and there’s times he’s got up in front of the room and talked to the entire team and did one hell of a job.”
With 259 career receptions, Slayton is 17th on the franchise’s all-time list. He is 18th in receiving yards with 3,897.
Big names like Mark Bavaro, Saquon Barkley, Kyle Rote and Victor Cruz are within reach on the receptions list this season. A 649-yard receiving season, Slayton’s career average, would vault him to 12th in receiving yards, past players like Sterling Shepard, Jeremy Shockey, Del Shofner and Bob Tucker. A 700-yard season would push him past Victor Cruz.
“I have profound respect for all the names you just said, all guys who played here before me, all guys who were good players here before me,” Slayton said. “But ultimately, while it would be nice to be able to, pass up people that were such good football players that’s not really my focus.
“Even if I had, even if I had, you know, the NFL record for yards through seven years in the NFL, you know, it wouldn’t change the games that we’ve, not been able to win in my time here. And so ultimately that’s my primary focus is I think somebody like Hakeem Nicks or Amani Toomer or Mario Manningham, even Plaxico Burress, those type of guys, the envy I have for them is the fact that they won at the highest level.
“So ultimately I’d much rather catch them in Super Bowl rings than I would yardage.”
Veteran players are generally fine with the idea of sitting out preseason snaps. Slayton indicated he thought playing time in some of the preseason games might be helpful for Russell Wilson and the offense.
“It’s his [Wilson’s] 13th year, but his first year as a Giant, so he’s never played as a New York Giant,” Slayton said. “He’s never played with us in a real game. He’s never played behind our line, play with our backs play with our receivers.
“I don’t think that you can minimize what those reps mean. With all the new people it is, he’s been playing football for a long time. But, things change when you go different places, and you have different pieces.
So, I’m excited to play alongside him. And I think it’ll be a good mesh.”
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