The New York Giants re-signed wide receiver Darius Slayton to a two-year, $12 million deal this offseason, a move that surprised some after a rocky 2022 campaign.
Slayton, the Giants’ top receiver in three of his four seasons with the team dating back to 2019, was wisely retained by general manager Joe Schoen even though he was — for a time — in the doghouse and on the outs.
Then, the Giants suffered multiple injuries at wide receiver last year and they were forced to turn to Slayton. He responded with another solid performance.
The former fifth-round pick out of Auburn came into the league along with quarterback Daniel Jones and the two have formed a bond that the coaches and front office cannot ignore. If they are going to commit to Jones, they might as well keep his favorite target around, too.
One thing Slayton has not been able to accomplish is to gain 1,000 receiving yards in a season. Three times he racked up over 700 yards but now he could be in line for bigger things.
In his media session on Monday, Slayton downplayed whether a big statistical year would mean more now that the stakes for the Giants are higher.
“I think every receiver would love to be able to say, one day when I retire, I’m old and my knees don’t work anymore, you know I can tell my kids I had a 1,000-yard NFL season at one point,” Slayton said. “It’s a nice benchmark to have, but obviously, to get there you got to start with game one first, so I just take it one week, one day at a time.”
He’ll have a lot more competition for targets this season with a full receiver room and tight end Darren Waller in the fold. Let’s not forget that Saquon Barkley will see plenty of touches in the passing game as well. The Giants suddenly have a potent offense.
The offense in general should be better. Slayton outlined some of the new additions who will help take the Giants to the next level.
“On offense, we’ve got Jalin (Hyatt), Darren (Waller), and Eric Gray. Then (center) John Michael (Schmitz Jr.) whose had a really good camp for us up front, so I think they did a good job of accumulating talent and adding guys that would boost our team,” Slayton said.
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