1. Darius Slayton (2019) vs Amani Toomer (1996)
Amani Toomer – that’s a name I haven’t said (or heard) in a while.
By and far an all-time Giants great and fan favorite, Toomer would play his entire 13-year NFL career with the G-Men and retire as the franchise’s leader in pass targets, receptions, yards, and receiving touchdowns.
Toomer amassed a career resume that included 668 receptions, 9,479 yards, and 54 receiving touchdowns, but after his rookie season you would have never guessed that.
Seeing action in only seven games, Toomer would record a total of one catch for 12 yards his rookie year. Obviously, Slayton’s rookie campaign doesn’t even compare in this case, but it also can be an example of how careers aren’t defined after one season.
Toomer’s numbers slightly increased over the next two seasons, but even if you added his stats from his first three seasons, they are still lower than Slayton’s rookie year (44 receptions, 635 yards, 6 touchdowns).
Now it wasn’t all Toomer’s fault, as he was taking passes from Dave Brown and Danny Kanell during those three years and was widely used and more productive in the special teams game. Once Kerry Collins got to town in 1999, Toomer would go on to record 5 straight 1,000-yard seasons.
One interesting note between these two is Toomer never amassed more than 8 receiving touchdowns in his career, a mark Slayton set his first season as a Giant. Of course there are a lot of factors that account for this, mainly being different styles of offense and types of receiver each are/were.
Nonetheless, it is a great reminder that a player’s career isn’t made or ruined because of one (or in this case three) seasons. But this does show Slayton is trending in a great direction when it comes to measuring up to one of the best to ever play for the NY Giants.
Advantage: Slayton