Darius Slayton Hanging in for Turning of NY Giants' Tide

Darius Slayton has been through a lot of bad times with the Giants. He's ready to do his part to help that change.

New York Giants wide receiver Darius Slayton (18) speaks to the media on day two of training camp at Quest Diagnostics Giants Training Center, Jul 24, 2025, East Rutherford, NJ, USA. | Yannick Peterhans / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Receiver Darius Slayton came to the New York Giants in 2019, a fifth-round draft pick who had maybe a 60-40 chance of making the 53-man roster.

He not only made the roster, but he’s been a steady presence year in and year out, at one point finishing as the Giants’ receiving yardage leader in four of his first five seasons.

But it hasn’t always been smooth sailing. At the start of the Joe Schoen-Brian Daboll era, the former Auburn wideout was initially buried on the depth chart before Daboll, in his first season as head coach, realized that he had made an error in judgment in benching Slayton.

Then there was Schoen, the team’s general manager, giving Slayton the ultimatum that no player wants to hear: take a pay cut or be cut.

Slayton played ball, and he’s still standing, the longest-tenured member of the Giants’ offense and one of two remaining members from that 2019 draft class (defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence II being the other).

“Yeah, it is kind of crazy. Sometimes I forget about it until somebody brings it up like you just did,” Slayton said Thursday after the Giants wrapped their second practice of the summer. 

“I've been blessed, Dex has been blessed, to be Giants our entire career. This is a great organization to play for, and hopefully we'll be able to continue to perform in a way that'll keep us here.”

Slayton, who decided to remain with the Giants this past offseason when he signed a three-year contract, is hoping to be a part of the team’s resurgence after going through five losing seasons since being drafted.

As one of the senior-most Giants in the locker room, he serves as a bit of a historian for his new teammates who maybe aren’t as familiar with a player on the roster.

But he’s also an open book when it comes to picking the brains of quarterbacks Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston, not just because of the respect he has for both, but because they share the desire to win.

And Slayton believes that sunnier skies lie ahead for the Giants franchise, which, when it happens.  

“Yeah, for sure. When we get it turned around and when we get this thing going in the right direction, I think for me specifically, it's been a good six years, but I've looked forward to every year and I don't want to see any team in the league succeed more than I want to see the Giants,” he said. 

Wilson, Slayton said, brings a clarity to the offense. And already, Slayton said he can see hints of what the Giants' offense might become.

“Multifaceted,” he said, when asked what this unit can become. “I think we have quarterbacks that do a good job of pushing the ball down the field, being aggressive, and then we have people that are aggressive playmakers, people that go get the football, people that can create with a ball in their hands.

Only time will tell if the flashes Slayton said he’s seen turn into something more for this Giants team, and he’s here for that.

“Obviously, my whole career has been invested here,” he said. “Most of my adult life has been invested in the New Jersey and New York area, so it'll be huge for me to be able to win here when my time is done.” 

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