New York Giants leading wide receiver Darius Slayton recently opened up about an uncompromising term he put on the negotiation table when deciding his future with the team this offseason.
Slayton revealed on the “All Facts No Breaks with Keyshawn Johnson” podcast that his coming back to New York for the 2024 season was contingent upon him getting the ball more (h/t Manny Gomez of NJ.com):
“I don’t play football to just play,” Slayton said. “I want the chance to show that I’m amongst the best in the game. But the reality of being a receiver is if you don’t get the opportunities to do so, you’re not gonna have the production.”
“For instance, last year I had [79] targets. There’s never in the history of football been a 1,000-yard season on less than 80 targets. Especially nowadays where guys are going for 1,600, 1,700 [yards], if you want to play at that pace, you need the ball.”
Darius Slayton will have more competition than ever for targets in the Giants’ offense
Slayton is correct in that he’ll need more targets to reach the prestigious 1,000-yard milestone next year. The Giants may have capitulated to his demand behind closed doors but with the way their wide receiver room is presently constructed, he may not see more looks from quarterback Daniel Jones.
The Giants have Malik Nabers, Wan’Dale Robinson, and Jalin Hyatt who will all demand looks as well. Though Nabers is a rookie, he’s one of the more highly-touted wideouts to come out of the draft in recent years and is expected to contend for and even claim the WR1 spot. Even if Slayton sees the most targets on the Giants in 2024, Nabers will be right at his heels.
Further, Robinson’s reliable hands and Hyatt’s big-play potential and upside heavily factored into Giants head coach Brian Daboll playing them more to conclude the 2023 campaign and will be driving forces in their roles in the offense on the upcoming campaign.
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The Giants may not run enough pass plays for Slayton to get 100-plus targets in 2024
Adding to the dynamic is the fact that the Giants have averaged 551 passing attempts per season in the Jones era. In accordance with that, Slayton averaged 9.74 yards per target in 2023. Thus, he would need 103 targets to eclipse 1,000 receiving yards. When he was targeted 96 times as a second-year pro in 2020, he produced less yardage than he did in 2023, accumulating 750 REC yards.
Slayton has the potential to take the next step in his NFL career, but there are many mouths to feed in New York, even beyond the wide receiver pool. Therefore, Slayton may have to defer his expectations unless he comes out with a bang to start the 2024 season.
