New York Giants wide receiver Darius Slayton has never been shy about his support of quarterback Daniel Jones.
When critics begin to pile on DJ, it’s always Slayton who rushes to his defense first. The 2019 fifth-round pick has even coined the phrase, “Daniel Jones slander will not be tolerated.”
That mantra wasn’t created lightly. Slayton means every word of it.
“I’ve been defending him on social media lately because he would never respond to anybody publicly or give anybody the time of day for that matter,” Slayton recently wrote in The Athletic. “I could get on there and defend myself the same way, but I don’t really care what people say about me. But that’s my quarterback. I’ve got love for him. That’s my guy. I just want him to get the proper respect, that’s all.”
Slayton has taken issue with anyone from members of the media to EA Sports to other NFL teams and to fans. If you bash Jones, Slayton is coming for you.
His love of DJ is genuine. The two have developed a close bond despite being two very different people, and that’s what led Slayton to re-sign with the Giants this offseason.
“Him re-signing here had a lot of influence on my decision to re-sign. I can definitely say if he hadn’t come back that it would have been hard for me to come back here,” Slayton wrote. “It’s almost like if you grew up with a dog and you go home and your dog isn’t there, it almost doesn’t feel like home anymore. So it definitely was a factor. It’s something we definitely were monitoring on our end as we were evaluating other teams. Once he re-signed, there was definitely a sigh of relief.”
Ultimately, Slayton says, he wants to spend his entire career with Jones. If that’s with the Giants, then he prefers to remain in East Rutherford. If that changes somewhere down the line, Slayton will seek to follow.
“I hope I can play with him for my entire career,” Slayton added. “I consider myself blessed, because there have been hundreds of thousands of receivers that have come into this league and had a veteran quarterback or a rough quarterback situation. Getting to grow alongside the franchise guy is a very blessed position to be in. I’m just fortunate I’m here. I’m fortunate I was drafted alongside of him, and I look forward to working with him.”
Daniel Jones may be a lightning rod outside of the building in East Rutherford but inside of it, he’s loved and respected. And that tells you everything you need to know about the Giants’ franchise man.
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