One of the more pleasant surprises for the New York Giants last season was the impressive rookie campaign of wide receiver Darius Slayton. The Auburn product showed some real potential in his first year and hopefully can build on that moving into his sophomore season.
Slayton recently sat down with Madelyn Burke to talk virtually about the offseason program and his progress going into Year 2 with Daniel Jones, who he poked fun at over his phone habits.
“[The chemistry] is growing. Right now we’re working on him consistently answering the phone,” Slayton joked. “That’s kind of the next step in our relationship. He’s gotten better. I know he’s working hard. I’m working hard where I am, and I know we’re both ready to be back together [at the facility].”
Slayton’s first full offseason in the NFL has already presented its challenges as he is dealing with limited means due to the coronavirus pandemic. He has been keeping busy away from the virtual meetings, working on his craft with his father and sister by using a tennis ball.
“Some of (the drills), your partner also has to be a pretty coordinated individual,” Slayton said. “That was a little tricky doing that with my sister and dad. They’re OK coordinated, but definitely some of that stuff is just about tracking the ball, catching it. It’s smaller than a football, so if you catch something that small coming fast, a football is like nothing.”
Slayon also talked about the fact that former quarterback Eli Manning joined Twitter. Slayton, who is a must follow on twitter, welcomed Manning to the twitter world:
I mean welcome to Twitter and all but deep down I’m really mad you already got more followers than me 😒 https://t.co/9XwmajGZUw
— Darius Slayton (@Young_Slay2) May 23, 2020
Like most of the world, Slayton was in shock over Manning finally engaging social media.
“Honestly, I didn’t believe it at first,” Slayton said. “I kind of saw somebody tweet about Eli Manning made a Twitter [account], and I was like, ‘Yeah right.’ Then I saw the account and I was still like, ‘No shot. It’s some parody, whatever.’ Then I went to it and I saw it was verified and I was like, ‘Whoa, it’s actually [him].’ Then I read his first two tweets and I was like, ‘Yeah, it’s actually him. He would write that.'”
Now going into Year 2, Slayton has more confidence in his ability, which he believes will carry him to the next level. The sophomore receiver pinpointed helping the team win and get back to winning Giants football following his rookie season.
“My confidence is something that built as the year went on last year,” said Slayton, who caught five of his eight touchdowns and had both of his 100-yard games (121 yards at Jets and 154 at Philadelphia) in the second half of the season. “Hopefully this year, I’ll be able to hit it Week 1 running. It’s mostly internal. It’s just all in your head to me. Especially for receivers, to get the ball you’ve got to catch it, catch it low, high, behind you. I think it just starts from having unwavering faith in your hands basically.”
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