John Harbaugh is running a meritocracy, and Darius Slayton’s play this summer did not warrant him being ahead of any other wide receiver on the New York Giants’ roster. That is the biggest reason Slayton is an ex-Giant today.
Slayton missed the entire spring after double sports hernia surgery. He had a quiet summer, admitting not long ago that he still was not running at 100%, though he felt “pretty good.” Malik Nabers is the Giants’ No. 1 wide receiver. Malachi Fields, Odell Beckham Jr., and Darnell
Mooney were all better than Slayton this summer. For that matter, practice squad receivers Braxton Berrios and Dalen Cambre were also better.
Slayton was ticketed for the game-day inactive list when Sunday’s season-opening game against the Dallas Cowboys rolled around.
None of that means that cutting Slayton isn’t a massive gamble by the Giants.
The Giants have already lost one wide receiver they were going to count on heavily, Calvin Austin, to a season-ending injury. Depth at the position is now, to use an informal word, sketchy.
Yes, moving on from Slayton is likely a sign that the Giants feel good about the possibility that Nabers will play Sunday against the Cowboys. Even if he plays, though, Nabers will probably play a limited number of snaps in his return from last season’s torn ACL.
Fields is a rookie third-round pick. He had an impressive summer, but there is no guarantee he can carry that performance into real games. We have seen impressive summers fizzle before when fall arrived.
Beckham earned his spot, no doubt. Still, he is a 33-year-old who did not play in 2025 and has not played a full NFL season since 2019 — yes, 2019. How much can he play? How long before his body breaks down and he misses time? How productive can he be when he does play?
Darnell Mooney has a 1,000-yard and a 900-yard receiving season on his resume over six NFL seasons. He is coming off a down year with the Atlanta Falcons, though, where he caught just 32 passes for 443 yards. Are the Giants going to get a version of Mooney that deserves consistent playing time?
What about the practice squad guys?
Berrios has six receptions in 10 games over the past two seasons. Cambre was impressive this summer, but he has played 16 NFL offensive snaps and does not have a catch. Jalin Hyatt? Thirteen receptions over the past two seasons. Charlie Jones has eight catches in 33 career games, only one of which came in the last two seasons.
Can any of them produce at an acceptable level if the Giants need them to play extended snaps at wide receiver? That is debatable.
Slayton hate is unwarranted
The subhead says exactly what it is meant to say. Slayton has been a better player than many Giants fans, needing someone or something to blame for the struggles of recent seasons, are willing to admit.
Yes, his career drop rate of 6.3% is too high. No, he was never able to be what the Giants needed in the pre-Nabers days — a bona fide No. 1 receiver.
Let’s be real, though.
Slayton was a fifth-round pick, 171st overall, out of Auburn in the 2019 NFL Draft. He has not been an All-Pro like 2023 fifth-round pick Puka Nacua, but Slayton has vastly outplayed his draft position.
Slayton led the Giants in receiving yards four times in seven seasons, with 700+ receiving yards in each of those seasons. He has a 15.0 yards-per-catch average. He is four catches shy of 300 for his career, and his 4,435 receiving yards are 565 short of 5,000.
Slayton is 14th on the team’s all-time receptions list. His career average is 42 receptions per season. If he accomplished that in 2026, he would have moved all the way to ninth.
Slayton is 12th on the team’s all-time list in receiving yards. His average 633-yard receiving season would have skyrocketed him to fifth, behind only Amani Toomer, Odell Beckham Jr., Frank Gifford, and Tiki Barber.
Slayton has been a good player for the Giants. Instead of ripping him for his shortcomings and pointing a finger at him as part of the reason the team has been mostly awful during his time in New York, fans should be thanking him for being an overachiever, a good player, and an excellent representative of the franchise during his time with it.
We have seen Slayton outplay expectations before. There might come a time this season when the Giants wish they still had him around to try and do it again.
