Darius Slayton says the 2025 season never really gave him a chance to be himself.
The Giants veteran wide receiver told reporters at the Greenbrier on Saturday that he played the entire year with a sports hernia, then had surgery on both sides after offseason rehab didn’t solve the problem. Slayton said the issue showed up early and never went away.
“I pretty much started with it last season and just kind of played that way throughout the whole season,” Slayton said, per amNewYork. “Just because I wasn’t going to just cut the season short with the surgery or anything.
I got through last year and then I tried to kind of rehab it in the offseason and it just didn’t really work. So, I just went ahead and got the procedure done.”
He added that he feels “pretty good right now” as the Giants get ready to put the pads on for their next training cmap practice.
The injury helps explain why Slayton’s numbers sagged. He finished 2025 with 37 catches on 60 targets for 538 yards and one touchdown.
The yardage and catch totals were in the range of his recent production, but the scoring disappeared. He had at least two touchdowns in every prior full season and had gone as high as eight as a rookie, but across seventeen games last year he found the end zone only once.
Even with the setback, Slayton still averaged 14.5 yards per reception in 2025, matching his career line. That’s the profile of a player who can still run by defenders and threaten deep, even if the finishing touch wasn’t there. Saturday’s revelation puts a clear physical reason behind that drop.
The timing matters because Slayton is now entering Year 2 of a three-year extension, and his place in the offense is less secure than it once was. John Harbaugh said Slayton is “getting his strength back” and that he’s “hoping for big things,” but the Giants’ receiver room has changed around him.
Malik Nabers leads the group and is roughly ten months removed from a torn right ACL, though he avoided the PUP list and is trending toward reclaiming the WR1 workload. New York also brought in Darnell Mooney and Calvin Austin III, added Odell Beckham Jr. and JuJu Smith-Schuster on comeback deals, kept Braxton Berrios for the return game, and traded up for rookie Malachi Fields, who has been earning first-team reps while Nabers is limited.
At the same time, the Giants let Wan’Dale Robinson leave for Tennessee on a four-year, $78 million deal. That removed 92 catches and a big chunk of the underneath game, but it didn’t automatically create a new lane for Slayton. His value has always come on the outside and down the field, not in the slot.
That’s why a healthy Slayton still matters. He gives Jaxson Dart something this receiver group otherwise lacks: a proven vertical separator who has done it in New York for six years.
The money on Slayton’s deal makes the situation even more important. He signed a three-year, $36 million extension in March 2025 with $22 million guaranteed, and his cap charge rises to about $15.25 million in 2026. That’s starter-level money in a room that now includes younger options and two veteran reclamation projects.
The Giants are paying for more than a role player who runs go routes and clears space. If the surgery brings back the burst and the finishing ability, the contract can look like a bargain. If not, New York is carrying an expensive deep threat in a receiver room that has other options.
For Slayton, the next look matters. Monday’s pads will tell a lot about which version the Giants are getting.
In Other News...
John Harbaugh Is Testing Giants Veterans And Jaxson Dart Early
Training camp has a way of exposing what a roster really is, and John Harbaugh is making sure the Giants feel that from the start. Around the building, the message has been about accountability, with players like Cam Skattebo and Darius Slayton acknowledging a coach who is quick to hold people responsible for their effort and their actions. It is the kind of early-camp tone that can sharpen a team fast, especially when the standard is being set publicly and without much wiggle room.
Harbaugh has not limited that approach to younger players either, which makes the situation even more interesting for a Giants group trying to sort out its hierarchy. Veterans have been in the mix, and so has Jaxson Dart, as the coach has reinforced expectations on and off the field. For a team still trying to define itself, the question is not whether Harbaugh is sending a message. It is how the veterans and the rookie quarterback respond once the real pressure starts to build. [Read more 🡒]
Giants Camp Buzz Is Raising One Early Concern And Two Big Hopes
Training camp is always where optimism gets sharpened by reality, and for the Giants, the early buzz has already started to sort out into a few familiar categories. Abdul Carter has looked like the kind of edge presence the defense can build around, winning reps and flashing the pass-rushing talent that made him such a key part of this summers hope. On the other side of the ball, rookie wide receiver Malachi Fields has also drawn attention in practice, earning meaningful first-team work and looking like someone who may not take long to matter.
The more delicate storyline, of course, is the quarterback room, where Jaxson Dart is still working through the demands of a new offense and the learning curve has been visible in camp. Early reports have pointed to issues with processing and timing, the kind of details that can look small in July but become much bigger once the games start counting. For a Giants team trying to find upward momentum, the first few weeks of camp are already offering both reassurance and one early reminder that development rarely moves in a straight line. [Read more 🡒]