When the New York Giants traded nose tackle Dexter Lawrence earlier this year, that thrust wide receiver Darius Slayton into the status of the longest-tenured Giants player.
Slayton, a fifth-round pick out of Auburn in 2019, is entering his eighth season in Blue and, at 29, is seen as an elder statesman in both the locker room and among the wide receivers.
“Everybody keeps trying to fit me in the old guy role. But you know Odell’s (Beckham) older than me, Braxton’s (Berrios) older than me, JuJu’s (Smith-Schuster) the same age as me. So, I’m trying to shake that narrative,” he told reporters after Saturday’s training camp workout. “But, no, other than that I feel like I’ve always just kind of been a glue guy. Kind of a do-it-all guy. There’s not really too much for a receiver position that you could of that I’m not capable of doing. My plan is to fill whatever holes need to be filled and be successful at my role.”
In his seven seasons with the Giants, Slayton’s seen quite a bit, but only one winning season and one playoff appearance. Since that playoff loss after the 2022 season, the Giants have gone 13-38 and fallen on lean times.
The Giants were due for an upheaval and a culture change, and they got one when the team hired John Harbaugh as head coach this past January. Whatever party was going on here has ended abruptly, and Slayton is all for installing some much-needed discipline.
“I definitely think he’s what we needed. There’s definitely been a sense of accountability off the rip, which has been huge for us. I’m definitely glad Coach Harbaugh’s here,” he said. “Overall, there’s just no room for anybody to just do whatever they want. That’s the best way I can put it to you. Everybody’s accountable. Everybody has to be on time. Everybody has to show effort at practice, or you would be held accountable.”
Slayton gave a general sense of how things have changed. It’s more of a business and adult approach to the game.
“Already in this camp, he’s already kind of expressed that at the end of the day, you know, in this life, if somebody’s not doing something up to the echelon that you want them to do, you go to them, you make that clear to them that that’s not what we’re going to do around here, then they have a chance to respond. And that’s something that he’s already done in our first few days of camp and has gotten a positive response out of the individuals that he’s done that with. So, I think that’s really big for a football team,” Slayton said.
It’s long overdue. Now let’s see if it makes a difference in the standings this year.
This article originally appeared on Giants Wire: Giants’ new reality under John Harbaugh: ‘No room to do whatever you want’
Reporting by John Fennelly, Giants Wire / Giants Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By John Fennelly, Giants Wire | USA TODAY Network
