Darius Slayton Makes Surprising Comments on Future With Giants

New York Giants wide receiver Darius Slayton has given more to his franchise than he has received in five seasons in the Big Apple. While he isn’t going to hold that against them, he isn’t shying away from clearing the air about his league-wide value heading into an all-important 2024 campaign. 

Slayton, who is entering his sixth season with Big Blue at the age of 27, has made a name for himself as the Giants' most potent pass-catching option behind quarterback and fellow 2019 draft pick Daniel Jones.

In that span, he has tallied a whopping 220 targets for 3,324 yards (15.1 average) and 19 touchdowns, offering one of the most consistent receiving resumes in New York since the departure of Odell Beckham Jr.

Slayton emerged as an under-the-radar guy in his rookie year with a team-leading 748 yards and eight touchdowns to finish as one of two players with at least six hauls in the endzone. His aerial connection with Jones hasn’t looked back since, leading to a high target share of 70+ in four of his first five seasons and a default No. 1 status for a receiving group that has been bereft of talent for most of his tenure in East Rutherford.

What’s more impressive is the former fifth-round selection has done it with flying colors despite intense weaknesses throughout the offense.

Slayton and the Giants’ skilled players have been let down by a lackluster offensive line. Meanwhile, the injury woes of Jones have handicapped their collective potential, resulting in one winning season in five years.

Still, Slayton defied the odds in front of him, walking into 2024 as the only Giants player to surpass 700 yards receiving dating back to his inaugural season in 2019.

All those heroics came into perspective this week for Slayton, who had been the subject of offseason trade murmurs in light of his desire to reach a contract extension with the team. The Auburn product received a new deal in 2023 for two years, $12 million that included up to $1.5 million in potential incentives but was seeking a newer bag to account for his offensive value and procure some extra insurance for his place on the team. 

The negotiations brought some pushback over the last few months, forcing the receiver to skip Phases 1 and 2 of OTA’s before reaching a deserving compromise to his deal.

It was the Giants' belief in a weak free agent market for Slayton, which almost delayed talks until the end of the 2024 season. Slayton came out at camp to shed light on and remind them of the ill-minded viewpoint.

"“I would say this: people wanted to trade for me,” Slayton told the NY Daily News at practice after receiving his amended contract on May 30th. “People don’t trade for bad players, or people don’t trade for people who haven’t played good ball in this league. So it’s not like I couldn’t have been elsewhere. I just chose to be here.”"

While Slayton didn’t get the true extension he was seeking, the Giants agreed to juice his potential incentives to a max of $2.15 million, a boost of about $650,000 above his original max compensation for the season.

Under the new terms, he can cash in the extra money if he surpasses 70 receptions for 1,000 yards and 10 touchdowns, all of which would be career highs for the veteran. 

Slayton told reporters he was “satisfied” with the new terms that would make his performance on the field this fall more lucrative. It’s not a surprising response, despite all the losing he’s had to deal with in his early career. Slayton has always maintained avid support for his quarterback in Jones and has been a team player willing to defend the Giants with his words and actions on the gridiron. 

Yet, this fighting for just financial commitment has defined Slayton’s relationship with New York. In 2022, before posting at least 46 receptions and 724 yards for a third time, the Giants approached their leading pass catcher to take a pay cut to support their cap space and roster overhaul from the preceding regime.

Slayton obliged to the financial sacrifice with his job security looming and followed that up with a 46 reception, 724 yards, and two touchdown statline that once again led the team’s receiving department. 

In addition to the production, Slayton remained one of the Giants' most reliable players in the position group health-wise, missing no more than four games in any of his pro seasons to date.

The veteran had to take a modest deal to stick around in 2023, and his positive trends haven’t ceased even amid emerging competition in the receiver room from names like Malik Nabers, Wan’Dale Robinson, and Jalin Jyatt. Each wide receiver figures to battle with Slayton for more work in the upcoming year.

Thus, for Slayton, it came time for the other party to meet him halfway with an updated agreement that showed more respect for his value and allowed him to remain a big piece of the offensive rotation. If they couldn’t do that after two periods of talking with the front office, he was nearing a request for a trade to explore an immediate future with other suitors that would. 

“I don’t play football to just play,” Slayton said. “I want the chance to show that I’m amongst the best in the game. But the reality of being a receiver is if you don’t get the opportunities to do so, you’re not gonna have the production.”

“Obviously you’re trying to maximize your dollars. But at the same time, I kinda wanted to make sure it was known that if being here and me being a part of the offense — and being a big part of the offense — is not the thing here, then that’s OK. But we’d either like to move on and go somewhere else or make the investment that implies that I am that. So that was kind of where we ended up.”

Given how wide his statistical margins have been from his teammates, Slayton should have no problems remaining involved in the Giants offense, which will look to capitalize on vertical talent this season.

He will be inspired to produce at a higher level by another round of negotiations looming for the 2025-2026 offseason when he will become an unrestricted free agent capable of hearing offers beyond the confines of the big city. 

The only question standing in the way of meeting the new incentive marks is how much of a priority he will be in the top five of the Giants' depth chart that has now unearthed additional young talent.

Nabers has already taken the competition in his first camp by storm and figures to be the No. 1 guy heading into 2024, followed by the returns of Robinson and Hyatt, who showed turnarounds late in their respective 2023 campaigns and offer unique skill sets out wide. 

Luckily for Slayton, he will come in with the experience and connection to his quarterback that should bode well for being trusted in some of the game’s biggest moments.

He is already well respected by his teammates to where they won’t step on his toes for extra targets to inflate their individual games. Additionally, the bar has been set high for what he can accomplish coming off a 2023 outing in which he notched his career-high 770 yards and ranked 46th in the NFL. 

If anything, the pressure has been laid on the shoulders of the Giants’ front office by Slayton’s recent comments. With only a temporary solution behind them, they are left to sit back and watch whether the former Gettleman-era draft selection increases his stock and doubles down on his value to their team.

Should their bright pass catcher have another impressive season this fall, they could have to deal with a more contested pool of bidders to retain his services and a more stringent negotiator in the former draft selection himself. 

Sure, it is not out of the realm of possibility that the Giants look the other way. They already have many pieces from the previous regime, while looking to spare the big commitments towards other positions with more impending needs. 

They have the trio of young ballhawks locked down for 2-4 more seasons, offering a reason to let Slayton walk or shop him before the end of the regular season in exchange for draft capital from a receiver-needy organization or one that is one away from contending for a championship. 

No matter what happens in the next several months, the ball is in Slayton’s court to show the Giants once again what he is worth to their franchise that hasn’t matched their admiration for his leadership with a fair piece of their checkbook.

For now, New York is where his heart is and football is where his mind will be until it's time for what could be interesting business matters this summer. 

"I don't really feel as though I have the luxury to look that far ahead considering we won (six) games last year," Slayton said. 

"Kind of got to get over that hump first, as a collective, and then worry about that type of stuff. My primary focus is getting back there, helping the guys in my room, leading the guys in my room, and trying to get this team back where they were two years ago."

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