The NY Giants’ have had rookies lead the team in receiving as Darius Slayton did in 2019 before. If he can turn out to be even nearly as good as them, Big Blue will be in good shape moving forward.
Five different wide receivers for the NY Giants have led the team in reception yards over the past decade. The impressive and now especially encouraging fact is that three of these players did so in their NFL season debuts, due to rookie phenom Darius Slayton.
Some players to lead the NY Giants are as known off the field as much as on the field, such as Odell Beckham Jr. and Victor Cruz. Others, like Hakeem Nicks, had short NFL careers, but not before they cemented themselves into NY Giants folklore.
The latest reception leader, however, has a blank page in front of him. Can Darius Slayton rise to become a household name? Or will he become an outlier to lead during a transition year?
Slayton led the NY Giants in receiving yards in 2019 with 740 yards. That’s the second-lowest total of the past 10 years, only ahead of Sterling Shepard’s 731 yards in 2017. But Slayton also begins his legend as one of the three receivers who led the team in his rookie campaign, and most impressively, showed an affinity for hauling in touchdowns.
Past Team Receiving Leaders
Here are the receivers to lead the NY Giants in reception yards and how many times over the past decade they’ve done it: Odell Beckham Jr. led four times; Victor Cruz led three; Hakeem Nicks, Sterling Shepard, and Darius Slayton have all led once.
Beckham may have led the most, but Cruz gets the title for most yards in a season. Cruz’s 1536 yards receiving in 2011 outranks Beckham’s highest total of 1450 yards in 2015.
Cruz raked in more than 1000 yards two of the three years he led the team, missing out on 1,000 in 2013 by just two yards when he led the team with 998. Beckham, however, collected more than 1000 yards each of the four years he led; his lowest total was 1052 in 2018, his last year with the team.
As mentioned, Darius Slayton’s humble 740 yards is only ahead of Shepard’s 731. But Slayton also had fewer passing yards to work with; Daniel Jones led the team with 3027 passing yards, the fewest for a team leader in the past decade.
The most encouraging part of Slayton’s rookie season was his developing rapport with fellow rookie QB, Daniel Jones. The duo showed the ability to connect on big plays as the rookie WR reeled in eight touchdowns, although a few of those came from Eli Manning when Jones was injured.
Comparing Slayton’s year with past NY Giants rookie WR’s
Darius Slayton was one of three rookies in the past decade to lead the NY Giants in receiving yards, but think fast! Which of those three receivers had the most yards in his rookie campaign?
While Odell Beckham would be the most logical guess, it’d be a wrong one. Yes, he’s one of the three to lead the team. But Victor Cruz had more yards in his rookie campaign than all the other receivers in this list, with one caveat. Cruz was on the team in 2010, but only suited up for three games and did not see the field.
Counting 2011 as his first on-field year, Cruz led the other receivers’ rookie campaigns in targets (131), reception yards (1536), yards per reception (18.7), yards per target (11.7), first downs (59), and longest reception (who else remembers exactly where they were on that 99-yard touchdown against the Jets?).
Beckham’s rookie season was not without its own highlights. He was not all too far behind Cruz in yards with 1305, but Beckham led in receptions (91), touchdowns (12), receptions per game (7.6), yards per game (108.8) and catch percentage (70).
Slayton, meanwhile, again stays only ahead of Sterling Shepard in most categories. Slayton was fourth of the five reception leaders in targets (84), receptions (48), yards (740), first downs (55), yards per game (52.9), and yards per target (8.8). Unfortunately, he is also last in catch percentage with 57.1.
On the brighter side, he is third in touchdowns (8) and yards per reception (15.4). In fact, he is above Beckham’s rookie yards per game numbers, which is clearly encouraging.
Does Slayton have long-term star potential with NY Giants?
Darius Slayton joins good company by being the third rookie for the NY Giants to lead the team in reception yards, but his rookie numbers remain pedestrian when comparing him to past great Big Blue rookie WR’s, not that that’s an easy group to compete with.
He is on par with Hakeem Nicks, who helped the NY Giants make a magical run and become Super Bowl Champions, which allures him to Giants fans to this day despite his short career.
And he’s already inching ahead of Sterling Shepard, who has been a great slot receiver, especially when the main threat is on the outside, but who plays a better number two, and who has been consistently injury prone.
At 6’1,” Slayton is actually the tallest receiver of the five to lead the NY Giants in reception yards during the past decade, which is odd because that’s a very average height for a WR1. This makes him the biggest target for Daniel Jones heading into 2020 at the moment and potentially makes them both a dangerous duo.
With a full year together, Darius Slayton should again lead the team in reception yards, only this time breaking over 1000 if he can stay healthy and continue his rapport with Daniel Jones.