Darius Slayton may be the next Giant to find stardom elsewhere

You don’t need to be a fortune teller — just a Giants fan well-versed in Murphy’s Law — to see the future headline now.

“Free-agent steal Darius Slayton has first career 1,000-yard season after leaving the Giants.”

If things weren’t bad enough at home during a 2-10 slog of a season, it seems that a former Giant is excelling somewhere during every NFL television window.

Saquon Barkley is threatening to break the NFL single-season rushing record for the Eagles, Xavier McKinney leads the league in interceptions for the Packers, Julian Love just said that Leonard Williams is playing at a “Defensive Player of the Year” level after they both made huge plays in a Seahawks win over the Jets at MetLife Stadium, and the list goes on with Evan Engram, Ben Bredeson, Jabrill Peppers and others to a lesser degree.

“They’re all really good football players, so, obviously, they’re going to make plays,” Slayton said after Monday’s practice. “But we have plenty of capable football players in this building. If we can just get everybody to play to the level that they’re capable of simultaneously, then we’ll be all right.”

Slayton has teamed with all those players over his six seasons, tied with Dexter Lawrence as the longest-tenured Giants. Wouldn’t he expect better results than a 31-63-1 record since 2019 with various combinations of those players together?

“You would think,” Slayton said. “For whatever reason, it didn’t work. We have to find a way to make it work with what we have here now.”

It was a diplomatic leader-like response from Slayton, who might only have five games left in his Giants tenure.

He is headed toward free agency for the second time, after he tried to leverage a new contract from the Giants by skipping voluntary spring workouts but wound up settling for boosted incentives that won’t be reached in the NFL’s second-to-last-ranked passing offense.

It is not hard to picture an analytical NFL front office with a big-play-minded quarterback seeing Slayton as possessing an untapped ceiling. He ranks No. 5 among active receivers — behind A.J. Brown, Mike Williams, Mike Evans and Justin Jefferson — with 15 yards per catch in his career.

“I think I’ve improved every year that I’ve been in the NFL,” Slayton said. “Whenever the season ends, I believe I’ll go into the offseason work and I’ll come back a better version of myself for year seven. So, that’s just something that I personally take pride in regardless of my team situation or whatever.”

Part of the reason for Slayton’s return to the Giants on a two-year, $12 million deal in 2023 was the allure of maintaining chemistry with 2019 draft classmate and close friend Daniel Jones.

Having to learn a new quarterback’s tendencies regardless would seem to level the playing field.

The receiver market also jumped last offseason when players with similar career production to Slayton — Gabe Davis (Jaguars) and Darnell Mooney (Falcons) — signed matching three-year, $39 million contracts.

Slayton’s value to the Giants this season includes helping teach a complex-for-receivers offensive scheme to rookie Malik Nabers during the week and helping him to make on-field adjustments.

“He’s always done whatever we asked of him,” head coach Brian Daboll said.

A model of consistency, Slayton is on pace to land between 46 and 50 catches for the fifth time and fall just short of his career 17-game average of 744 receiving yards.

He has spoken in the past about how that is “not a range that I think is reflective of what I’m capable of.”

Slayton has played under three head coaches, five offensive play-callers and three position coaches, alongside nine different quarterbacks, and never in an offense ranked higher than No. 18 league-wide. An old knock — seven drops after a career-low three last season — has resurfaced.

“However a season may go numerically, I judge myself based on a standard of play,” Slayton said, “and I’ve been able to steadily improve that since I’ve been a pro.”

Whether Giants teammates will be rooting for Slayton from afar — perhaps as Jalin Hyatt fills his shoes — or joining him on the 2025 rebuild is one of the under-the-radar important questions to be answered this coming offseason.

“We’re all happy for those former teammates and friends within the locker room,” linebacker Micah McFadden said. “But, yeah, it’s difficult to see it. Obviously, we would have loved to put it all together while everybody was here.”