Tag: Darius Slayton

Giants’ Darius Slayton named 2025 Alan Page Community Award winner

New York Giants WR Darius Slayton has been recognized by the NFLPA for his work with local charitable causes and awarded their highest honor.

New York Giants wide receiver Darius Slayton has been named the Alan Page Community Award winner for 2025.

The Alan Page Community Award is the NFLPA’s highest honor.

As per the NFLPA, the award “annually recognizes one player who demonstrates a profound dedication to positively impacting his team’s city and communities across the country, following in the spirit of Pro Football Hall of Famer, humanitarian and civil rights pioneer Alan Page. Each year’s winner is selected by his NFL peers, who cast their votes for one of the award’s five finalists via electronic ballot.”

From the NFLPA:

The NFL Players Association announced Darius Slayton as the recipient of the 2025 Alan Page Community Award at its annual Super Bowl press conference on Wednesday. In recognition, the NFLPA will donate $100,000 to Slayton’s Left-Hand Right-Hand (LHRH) Foundation.

“Winning this award means more than words can describe,” Slayton said. “The main goal for me and my family has always been to be able to give back to the people in our communities.”

Slayton has been with the Giants since 2019 when he was a fifth-round draft pick out of Auburn. He has led the Giants in receiving in four of his six seasons in Blue.

During those six seasons with the Giants, “Slayton has worked closely with these NYPD programs, personally donating more than $150,000 in funding and resources toward its efforts to improve police-community relations and provide 150 boys with academic support and mentorship. Additionally, he organizes an annual car show in Far Rockaway to educate boys on diverse career paths and actively serves as a program ambassador.”

Slayton is an impending free agency come March and there will be a market for his services around the league. The Giants may get priced out in their effort to retain him.

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2 Giants ranked among PFF’s top 100 impending free agents

Two impending New York Giants free agents have been ranked among Pro Football Focus’ top 100 players set to his free agency.

For all but four remaining teams, the 2024 NFL season has come to a close. And with the hiring cycle also wrapping up, it’s full steam ahead for the New York Giants and most other organizations.

While many analysts and fans will quickly turn their attention to the 2025 NFL draft, general managers around the league are focusing a bit more on free agency, which officially begins on March 12.

Giants general manager Joe Schoen has quite a bit on his to-do list with 30 players set to become free agents and a plethora of personnel issues that desperately need to be fixed.

Several hundred players will hit the open market in seven weeks and Pro Football Focus has compiled their list of the top 100. Of that group, just two of the Giants’ impending free agents made the cut.

Both of those players should have been dealt at the trade deadline, but that’s a story for another time.

First up? Linebacker Azeez Ojulari.

51. EDGE Azeez Ojulari, New York Giants

Ojulari is a classic designated pass-rush specialist with outstanding sack production on a limited snap count, failing to eclipse the 500-snap threshold since his rookie campaign. Underlying metrics like pass-rush win rate and pressure rate have never matched Ojulari’s sack totals, however, and he notched seven sacks on just 22 total pressures in 2024, with half of those pressures coming when unblocked or as clean-up pressures where the quarterback is chased into his area.

The issue with Ojulari has never been talent. He’s a productive player when he’s on the field, but injuries have defined his career. It seems unlikely the Giants re-sign him, which may benefit Ojulari. A change of scenery could be what the doctor ordered.

The last Giants player to make the list is an obvious one.

38. WR Darius Slayton, New York Giants

Shaky quarterback and offensive line play arguably limited Slayton’s production during his time with the Giants, which is unfortunate for a player who is a threat to break off an explosive play at any moment. The former fifth-round steal nonetheless had four seasons of at least 700 receiving yards on 15 yards per reception over his first five years in the league, which is harder to do when the quarterback has little time to wait for longer-developing routes downfield. Slayton is also the Giants’ 2024 Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee, showing he’d be an asset to any locker room.

Slayton has been the Giants’ most consistent wide receiver and is beloved by his teammates. However, his market valuation likely prices him out of New York’s range and similar to Ojulari, he could stand to benefit from taking his talents elsewhere.

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Darius Slayton’s projected market value may price him out of Giants’ plans

Based on his projected market value, WR Darius Slayton is likely to be priced out of the New York Giants’ free agent plans.

New York Giants wide receiver Darius Slayton briefly held out this past offseason, hoping to land a long-term contract extension. Those tactics failed and Slayton quickly returned.

Since joining the Giants as a fifth-round pick in the 2019 NFL draft, Slayton has been the team’s most consistent receiver. He’s amassed 259 receptions for 3,897 yards and 21 touchdowns.

However, Slayton’s production and involvement noticeably dipped following the release of quarterback Daniel Jones mid-season. He finished the year with just 39 receptions for 573 yards and two touchdowns.

Those numbers represent career lows for Slayton, except for 2021 when he was limited to just 13 games with five starts.

So, what does the future hold?

Slayton is an impending unrestricted free agent and after opting against a long-term deal last year, it seems likely the Giants will allow him to test the market. And per Spotrac, his projected value is in the range of $15.86 million annually.

Ultimately, Spotrac projects Slayton will sign a two-year, $31,720,872 which would rank as the 22nd most expensive wide receiver contract in the NFL.

Although the Giants will have upwards of $58 million in salary cap space, that’s a hefty price to pay for a WR2 with good blocking skills. It’s more than double Slayton’s average yearly salary over the past two seasons and nearly double his overall cap hit in 2024.

The Giants have many holes, including wide receiver depth, but if that projected value is matched on the free agent market, Slayton may be priced out of the team’s plans.

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Giants’ Malik Nabers credits Darius Slayton for role in record-breaking rookie season

New York Giants rookie WR Malik Nabers had a breakout season in 2024, but it wasn’t without the help of a veteran teammate, Darius Slayton

New York Giants rookie wide receiver Malik Nahers set several franchise records — and some NFL ones — this season but admits he didn’t do it without some help.

During a recent sitdown for Giants Conversations, Nabers credited veteran teammate Darius Slayton with helping him prepare for both the season and individual games and matchups.

“I was thinking about Slay,” Nabers said. “He always had like a film set up of DBs; a cut-up. He would always give it to receivers before games — ‘how this DB plays, how this DB plays.’

“He had individual people he would go at. With me, he would go, ‘They’re already scared with your speed and quickness. Make sure you use that as your advantage.’ Once they know that I feel that is what you mainly attack. Use that first and then change it up a little bit.

“He’d be watching me and I’d try to mix it up too much and he’d be like, ‘Don’t mix it up too much, stay with the first mindset.'”

Slayton, a fifth-round pick out of Auburn back in 2019 by the Giants, had been the team’s leading receiver in four of his first five seasons with the club.

He will be an unrestricted free agent in March but is still just 28. Given his impact on their most dynamic player (Nabers), the Giants could look to re-sign Slayton.

Nabers, consequently, went on to set multiple records as a rookie despite playing in just 15 games, missing two games in October with a concussion. He caught 109 passes for 1,204 yards and seven touchdowns.

He was second in the NFL this season with 170 targets. Only another LSU legend, Cincinnati’s Ja’Marr Chase, had more (175). Nabers had the most targets by a rookie wide receiver in a season.

Nabers set the Giants’ single-season record for receptions with 109, surpassing the previous franchise high set by Steve Smith in 2009 (107).

He also had the most games with five or more receptions by a rookie (13).

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Darius Slayton named George Young-Ernie Accorsi Media Good Guy Award winner

New York Giants wide receiver Darius Slayton is named the 24th recipient of the George Young-Ernie Accorsi Media Good Guy Award.

The George Young-Ernie Accorsi Media Good Guy Award recognizes a player “for his consistent and outstanding cooperation with the writers who cover the New York Giants on a daily basis.”

The award is voted on by the Giants chapter of the Professional Football Writers of America (PFWA), and this year’s recipient is wide receiver Darius Slayton.

Slayton becomes the 24th recipient of this award and is also up for the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award.

A 2019 fifth-round pick, Slayton has been one of the Giants’ most consistent players over the past six years. He also regularly makes himself available to the media, doesn’t shy away from tough questions, and puts in extra work around the community.

After receiving the award on Thursday, Slayton addressed his Giants’ future.

“You never know what the future holds,” he said. “Hopefully, (last week) wasn’t (my last home game) but we’ll see.”

In 91 career games (65 starts), Slayton has hauled in 259 receptions for 3,897 yards and 21 touchdowns. He’s also gained three yards rushing, 189 yards on nine kick returns, and recorded four tackles.

Slayton will become an unrestricted free agent in March and could draw significant interest on the open market. Accordingly, Sunday could be his final-ever game in a Giants uniform.

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Several Giants players throw support behind Brian Daboll

With “Black Monday” looming, several New York Giants players have thrown their support behind head coach Brian Daboll.

“Black Monday” in the NFL is just days away and many fans and people who work for and follow the New York Giants are hoping that it simply passes over East Rutherford without incident this year.

The Giants will finish either 3-14 or 4-13, depending on the outcome of their game against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday.

It will be the second straight disappointing season under general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll, who burst onto the scene in 2022 by producing the franchise’s first playoff team in a half-decade.

The players like playing for Daboll, and Schoen has actually put together the framework of a solid roster that could compete if it could just stay healthy.

“I think so,” veteran wide receiver Darius Slayton told the New York Post on Wednesday when asked if the duo should be retained. “It’s been three years, I think another year to try to give him a chance to really get things rolling would be warranted.”

Outside linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux was Schoen’s first draft pick as Giants’ GM back in 2022, going fifth overall. He spoke about Daboll on Thursday.

“As a coach, I love him. I think he’s a great coach. I think he’s a player’s coach. I think he has great philosophies,” he said. “Sometimes things just don’t shake out for the season or whatever it may be. I got total confidence in the organization and total confidence in the coaching. So, I don’t know how it’ll shake out, but things will happen how they’re supposed to.”

Cleaning house and delving back into the unknown appears to be an option. The Giants haven’t gotten it right in a while and maybe they just need to stay in place and let the world come back to them.

Since Tom Coughlin departed as the head coach after the 2015 season, the Giants have had five head coaches, including Daboll.

Earlier this year, co-owner John Mara gave Schoen and Daboll a vote of confidence, pretty much telegraphing his future plans. Change for the sake of change is how he got here. Standing pat might be the right strategy this time around.

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Giants players shrug off fans rooting for a tank

on Sunday, New York Giants players thanked fans who are rooting for them to win and laughed at those who are mad they aren’t tanking.

The New York Giants infuriated their fanbase on Sunday but not in the traditional fashion.

After dropping 10 straight games and 13 overall this season, Big Blue finally reversed course and pulled off a home win, upsetting the Indianapolis Colts, 45-33, at MetLife Stadium.

For the fans, it was too little, too late. They had gone from rooting for victories to rooting for losses in order to secure the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL draft.

Neither the coaches nor the players ever subscribed to the tank and that was evident on Sunday. Their objective is to win and they couldn’t care less how angry it makes the fans.

“We’re going to keep doing this, we’re going to keep pushing, the season’s not over, we’ve got two games left to be able to come out and win this one — that’s the goal every single week, come out and win and work as hard as we can to do it,” quarterback Drew Lock said.

Offensive lineman Jermaine Eluemunor was a bit more eloquent.

“You would rather your team go out there and fight for every inch than lay down and take an ass-whooping. Yeah, you get the pick that you want, but what is that player they want coming into? Being 3-13 is not for everyone, but everyone is out there trying and we’re trying to establish a culture that can lead into next year,” he said, via Ryan Dunleavy.

Meanwhile, wide receiver Darius Slayton laughed off the notion of tanking.

“We’re obviously not tanking,” he said. “We have a job to do. This isn’t basketball, it’s not golf, it’s not tennis. Football, you get hit. I’m not finna go out there and just let people tee off on me to tank.

“I’m not about to let people dive at my knees for free. At the end of the day, we’re trying to win and today showed that fight.”

Asked about losing draft stock with the win, Slayton was completely indifferent. He doesn’t care and it’s clear that his celebratory teammates don’t, either.

For other players, such as rookie wide receiver Malik Nabers, he seemed annoyed that fans would root for them to lose.

“I mean, I’ve got nothing to say about that,” he said, stopping himself before adding more. “I ain’t got nothing really to say about that. The draft will be the draft.”

Ultimately, Nabers said, “it wouldn’t be right” to look ahead and focus on anything other than the task at hand.

For those who were cheering and wanted to see the Giants win, the players dedicated Sunday’s victory to them. From Eluemunor to Nabers and everyone in between, they made sure to thank the fans who are rooting for them.

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Giants’ Darius Slayton doesn’t anticipate a regime change

New York Giants WR Darius Slayton doesn’t anticipate a regime change this offseason: “Doesn’t feel like there’s going to be any changes.”

New York Giants veteran wide receiver Darius Slayton is watching the prime of his career slip away in another lost season. He could have been traded at the deadline this October but wasn’t since the Giants really didn’t have the desire to do so.

Instead, Slayton is wallowing away on a Giants team that is dead last in the NFL in scoring, has used four quarterbacks, and has difficulty moving the football through the air.

The 27-year-old Slayton is healthy and has made his share of plays this season, catching 37 of 65 targets for 520 yards and a touchdown, but he’s here mainly to supplement and tutor the team’s younger wideouts such as Malik Nabers, Wan’Dale Robinson and Jalin Hyatt.

Slayton will be a free agent after this season. It looks like he’d to stay with the Giants but one would have to ask why. His 2019 draft mate, quarterback Daniel Jones, is gone, leaving just him and Dexter Lawrence as the longest-tenured Giants.

On Sunday, the Giants were trounced by the Baltimore Ravens, 35-14, at MetLife Stadium. It was their ninth straight defeat, tying the franchise record, last equaled in 2019.

Slayton has seen losing in his six seasons with the Giants, but nothing like this. They have had only one winning season (2022) since he’s gotten here. Since the beginning of 2023, they have been a team in what appears to be an irreversible death spiral.

After Sunday’s game, he had the indignity of comparing the current steak to the one in 2019.

“I mean from a streak, losing, it’s somewhat similar, but I mean, very different team at that time but I would probably say that our roster then isn’t what it is now,” he said. “So, yeah.”

In 2021, the Giants lost their last seven games under head coach Joe Judge to finish out the season at 4-13. Slayton was around for that mess, too.

“2021 was its own beast; that was its own deal but yeah, I wouldn’t compare this year to that year,” he said. “We just had a lot of other stuff going on that year that we don’t have necessarily going on now. We’re just losing. That is the only real common denominator between the two.”

Slayton doesn’t think there will be wholesale changes this time like there were back in 2021 when Judge was fired.

“I don’t see it happening with this staff. It seems like everybody will be here,” he said in a clip that the team edited out of their public transcript. “It just doesn’t feel like there’s going to be any changes made, which is fine”

Not everyone thinks that way. This year also comes with a fan revolt with planes flying banners over the stadium past two games demanding changes.

“I have not seen either plane, either this week or last week,” Slayton said. “I mean, people got time and money, that’s how they choose to spend it, it on them.”

Fans expect better and Slayton has been around long enough to know that. He understands their pain because he’s feeling it, too.

“I mean, everybody’s entitled to their own opinion,” Slayton said. “I understand the fans’ perspective, the frustration and all that type of thing. At the end of the day, I think we have a talented roster, I think they’ve built a talented roster here and we just have to do a couple things a little bit better to get it back going in the right direction.”

Whether Slayton will be around when the Giants finally get going in the right direction remains to be seen. He can probably get more money elsewhere and not have to endure the losing he’s seen for the better part of six years now.

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Giants players mock ‘dumpster fire’ plane protest: ‘Wasted money’

Giants players dismissed and mocked Sunday’s fan protest at MetLife Stadium as “wasted money” and an irrelevance that won’t have an impact.

It was another somber locker room for the New York Giants on Sunday evening. They had just watched a potential game-tying field goal get blocked, securing a 14-11 victory for the New Orleans Saints.

It was the team’s eighth straight loss and their seventh at home this season.

Needless to say, the players weren’t exactly in a jubilant mood when reporters came with questions about the pregame protest in which a fan chartered a plane and flew a banner reading, “Mr. Mara, enough. (Please) fix this dumpster fire” around MetLife Stadium.

“I ain’t pay for no plane,” rookie wide receiver Malik Nabers said. “I ain’t got nothing to say.”

While Nabers skirted questions about the protest, other Giants players took the opportunity to mock the anonymous fan who ponied up for the plane.

“Shoot, just give me that money that they wasted,” Adoree’ Jackson told NJ Advance Media. “At 11:30, I don’t think anybody would’ve been on the field anyway. So save that money. And next time, tell them: Just give it to me. I’ll deliver the message — whatever they need. I can put a little extra money in my pocket.

“I don’t think nothing of it. Obviously, everybody has their own opinions, their own their reactions. And they may go to extreme lengths. But I don’t think it fazes us in general.”

Jackson went on to compare Giants fans to fans of the Tennessee Titans, where he spent the first four seasons of his career.

“Man, the first experience that I had with the fans (here) would be the craziest thing ever,” Jackson said. “They booed a player on the field and cheered when he came off the field. I thought that was pretty bizarre. Never really heard too much booing — actually, I never heard booing in Tennessee.”

New York is a notoriously tough place to play and Jackson feels like the fans can drag a player down. He pointed to Evan Engram and Sam Darnold as examples of players who found success once they left the toxicity of East Rutherford and the surrounding areas.

But Jackson wasn’t the only player put off by the plane protest. Wide receiver Darius Slayton, who was recently nominated for the 2024 Walter Payton Man of the Year Award, also viewed it as money wasted.

“People have money and time to do stuff like that. If that’s what they choose to do, that’s what they choose to do,” a visibly annoyed Slayton told reporters.

Linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux was a bit more playful in his response, telling the anonymous fan who carried out the protest to “come see me.”

Meanwhile, quarterback Drew Lock also dismissed the protest as an irrelevance.

“That’s going to pretty far lengths to try and take a message,” Lock said after the game. “In one ear, out the other. Not going to affect me tonight. Not going to affect me tomorrow.”

And so the disconnect between the organization, its players, and their fans — or the “customers” as the late Wellington Mara called them — continues to grow.

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Darius Slayton nominated for Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award

New York Giants WR Darius Slayton has been nominated for the 2024 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award.

New York Giants wide receiver Darius Slayton has been nominated for the 2024 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award.

Head coach Brian Daboll informed the team of Slayton’s honor on Monday with the official nomination being revealed on Thursday morning.

“It’s hard to even put into words,” Slayton said. “It’s not something that I saw coming at all. Even as a kid, you see all these things the players do, and you never know. Andrew Whitworth won (in 2021) and I remember he got up there and was telling a story about one of his last years in the league. He said a guy came up to him and (said), ‘I was one of those kids at the Boys and Girls Club and I made it big.’ To me, that’s the ultimate. There’s not really much you could do in your career, or anything, that would top that, having someone come up and say, ‘You inspired me and here I am.’ Even if it wasn’t the NFL, that would be the biggest accomplishment in the world.

“I think the award itself speaks to that. That’s why I think it’s a tremendous honor to be a part of it. I’m very grateful and humbled that I was selected.”

Running back Saquon Barkley, now with the Philadelphia Eagles, had been the Giants’ nominee in each of the previous two seasons. The team’s only winner is future Hall of Fame quarterback Eli Manning, who took home the honor alongside Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald in 2016.

Each nominee receives a $55,000 donation to a charity of their choice. The winner will receive a $265,000 donation via the NFL Foundation and Nationwide Foundation.

“Obviously, football is not forever,” Slayton said. “But as long as I am able, I will do my best to continue to do the things that we’ve done, and continue to find new things, new ways to help people, new people to help.

“As long as you’re able, you should help, you should give, you should try to help other people do better, those types of things. That will always be something that’s part of my life.”

Slayton is involved with many charities and community events, including the Left-Hand Right-Hand Foundation, which he founded in 2022.

Named after late Chicago Bears running back Walter Payton, the “award recognizes an NFL player for outstanding community service activities off the field as well as excellence on the field” and is considered the most prestigious in the NFL.

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