The New York Giants’ offense showed an abundance of potential in 2019. The Giants had young playmakers make an impact, like Saquon Barkley, Daniel Jones, and Darius Slayton. But they were never all on the field together at the same time last season. Each player dealt with an injury at one point or another, keeping the team’s offense from maximizing its true potential.
Entering 2020, everyone seems to be healthy. Even Evan Engram is healthy along with the rest of the offensive playmakers. Hopefully, it will stay that way. One of the Giants’ playmakers who stayed healthy for the majority of the 2019 season was Darius Slayton. Big Play Slay appeared in 14 games for the Giants and quickly emerged as one of the team’s best players.
Darius Slayton Stats And Highlights
The 2019 fifth-round pick out of Auburn was a true diamond in the rough in last year’s NFL Draft. Initially touted as a deep-threat receiving prospect, Slayton quickly expanded his game in the pros. At the beginning of his rookie season, Pat Shurmur utilized Slayton as a pure deep-threat. The overwhelming majority of Darius’s routes were vertical/go routes. But as the season progressed, so did Darius Slayton, and he really expanded his route tree. This lead to success for the speedster from Auburn.
Darius Slayton led the New York Giants in receiving yards and receiving touchdowns as a rookie in 2019. The rookie totaled 48 receptions for 740 yards and 8 touchdowns (tied for the most receiving touchdowns by a rookie in the NFL). Heading into his second season, Slayton looks prepared and ready to take that next step as the Giants’ WR1. Check out this fire touchdown catch Slayton made in training camp:
Darius Slayton lead the Giants in receiving yards AND touchdowns in 2019, as a rookie.
Love to see him making some nice catches in camp! #NYG
Video: @Giants pic.twitter.com/Zs2msvl7x7
— Alex Wilson (@AlexWilsonESM) August 14, 2020
New York has lacked a big-body outside receiver in recent years. Darius Slayton started to fill that role last season and looks ready to thrive in that role this season. The Giants will be implementing a new offensive scheme under Jason Garrett. Outside receivers were featured heavily in his offense in Dallas, such as Dez Bryant and Michael Gallup. Darius Slayton should fill that Bryant/Gallup role for the Giants in 2020.