The New York Giants appear to have learned to cut their losses. Darius Slayton's contract became nothing more than a weight for this team quickly after it was signed. The receiver never lived up to his three-year, $36 million deal.
After a disappointing preseason in which he fell from the No. 2 spot on the wide receiver depth chart to the bottom of the pecking order, Big Blue finally released him, per Adam Schefter.
While it may come as a surprise with just days left to go before the Week 1 opener against the Dallas Cowboys, this move was a long time coming.
Giants finally release WR Darius Slayton days before regular season opener
Slayton entered training camp as the second receiver on the roster, only behind Malik Nabers. He was expected to be one of Big Blue's starting receivers. But the players behind him on the depth chart passed him up one by one.
Reports out of training camp suggested that rookie Malachi Fields was getting reps with the first-team offense. Then Odell Beckham Jr. was working in with the first group. Then it was Darnell Mooney. All the while, it was hard to find any sort of positive report about Slayton.
The veteran played in all three preseason games and failed to make a major impact. All four of his preseason catches came against the Miami Dolphins, where he turned in an impressive 58 yards. He was never targeted in the other two games, despite playing significant snaps.
For Giants fans, the preseason disappointment was just more of the same. Slayton has been an afterthought in this offense for the last two years. His failure to step into obvious opportunities has been a consistent theme, unfortunately. When Nabers went down in 2025, Wan'Dale Robinson and Theo Johnson stepped up, but Slayton stayed relatively unproductive.
After his shaky preseason outings, Dan Duggan of The Athletic reported that the veteran was trending toward being a healthy scratch in Week 1. It seemed like his contract was the only thing keeping him on the roster.
The Giants were just waiting for the moment when they could move on from him without suffering major cap implications. They'll take on a sizable dead cap hit for releasing him this season, but it was time to cut ties.
Now, New York can move forward with a promising receiving core for the rest of the season.
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