Why NY Giants WR Darius Slayton Will Increase His 2025 Receiving Yards

While the NY Giants offense has gone through its fair share of highs and lows in recent seasons, one of the rare pieces that always seems to buck the trends and produce valiantly for the team has been veteran wide receiver Darius Slayton.

Even when the rest of the unit has struggled, the Giants have been able to count on Slayton to come through in the clutch and be the primary contributor in the passing game, which has fluctuated but mostly remained near the bottom of the league in major success metrics. 

But then came Malik Nabers last year, and suddenly, Slayton went from being one of the top two highest receiving yards producers in the wide receiving corps each season to nearly falling out of the top four players by the time that the Giants’ historically bad 3-14 campaign mercifully ended. 

Still, while no one is going to regret Nabers having joined the team, the Giants thought enough of Slayton to bring him back on a three-year deal where, for the time being, he’s projected to be their No. 2 receiver. 

With Nabers having arrived on the scene last fall, Slayton’s numbers fell to 39 receptions on 71 targets for 573 yards and only two touchdowns in just one less game than he played the year before.  

He finished third on the team with 575 passing snaps, including the second-most in the wideout spot behind Nabers, nor was it his ability to get open.

Although Slayton will continue to have competition for pass targets from Nabers tight end Theo Johnson and receiver Wan’Dale Robinson, to name a few, we feel good about him seeing an uptick in his 2025 receiving numbers.

Why Darius Slayton Will Increase His Total Receiving Yards

The arrival of quarterback Russell Wilson is expected to rejuvenate the passing offense as a whole, particularly the deep ball.  

Last year, Jones ranked 27th among quarterbacks in completed air yards (1,126). He threw 19 passes of 20+ yards, six of 30+ yards, and two of 40+ yards.

Wilson, with his reputation as a moonball specialist, fared a little better, finishing with 1,360 air yards (7.9 average). He threw 40 passes of 20+ yards, 17 of 30+ yards, and 6 of 40+ yards.

Simply put, the longer the pass attempt, the more likely it is for the receivers to pad their receiving yardage totals if they make the catch. 

Slayton is a player who can stretch the field and make things happen over the middle, a place where the Giants' offense seemed to have little desire to attack last season. That was where he produced a good chunk of his yardage last season, netting 285 yards and a 91.1+ receiving grade on catches between 10-19 yards downfield.

From his tape thus far, we know that Slayton has that homerun-hitting ability in the open field. He has averaged 15.0 yards per catch in seven years with the Giants and notched a long catch of at least 41 yards in each of them. 

So while Nabers again figures to be front and center in the Giants’ passing game, Slayton, for whatever targets he does receive, should have more productive numbers given the change at quarterback if everything falls into place.  

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