Darius Slayton's case of the drops hurts Giants again

This would be an easy column to write if Darius Slayton were more like other receivers. If he were pompous or aloof or cringy. If he were the kind of guy who made excuses or made it hard for people to root for him.

He’s none of those things. He’s a well-regarded captain, a respected veteran player, one of the longest-tenured Giants, someone who has endured too many coaching staffs to count and numerous contractual insults from the front office to stick around and last.

He’s a player who has led the Giants in receiving yards four times in his nearly seven full seasons with the team. That’s the same number of times Odell Beckham Jr. did it.

This year, though, he has become something else. Something not entirely unforeseen but something that has been disappointing.

He and his drops are a big reason why the Giants are losing.

On a team that is trying to build around a dynamic young quarterback, trying to squeeze as much positivity and success out of Jaxson Dart’s rookie season as it can, Slayton should be the guy they are counting on to push them toward their future. Instead, he is just another one holding them back.

The latest evidence of this trend came in Sunday’s 29-21 loss to the Commanders. Slayton had a chance to make a tough but expected over-the-shoulder catch on what would have been a 35-yard touchdown pass from Dart.

It wasn’t even the way the play was designed to work out; it was something they discussed in the huddle and made work based on how the Commanders had been defending him on similar routes.

Dart lofted the ball into the perfect spot and Slayton had it in his hands until . . . he didn’t. He was hit from behind by Antonio Hamilton Jr. just as the ball arrived, jarring it loose, but it was the kind of catch we see receivers make routinely around the league. Heck, there are plenty of college receivers who pull that one in with regularity.

The Giants trailed 22-14 at the time. Had he caught it, they would have had a chance to close within a point or even tie the score with a two-point conversion. Instead, they wound up with nothing to show for the critical possession that lasted 12 plays, went 54 yards, ate up just over six minutes and ended on a missed 51-yard field-goal attempt.

There were a lot of plays that crushed the Giants’ hopes of ending their two-month losing streak and giving them their first victory since Oct. 9. The Giants failed to score when they had first-and-goal at the 1. They got the ball back on a fumble recovery with just over two minutes remaining and turned it over on downs from the Washington 38. They whiffed on plenty of tackles that cost them points, and their special teams were a disaster.

But if Slayton makes that catch . . . it’s probably a completely different ballgame.

If he makes any of a few catches this year, maybe it’s a different season.

“I expect to make those types of plays,” he said after the game. “Unfortunately, I didn’t today.”

That’s something that Slayton has uttered a few times this year. He dropped would-be touchdown passes against New Orleans and San Francisco that could have changed the course of those games, too.

The irony is that Slayton has produced in years past when the offense was much more inept as a whole. This year, when they actually are scoring points, Slayton is looking at hovering right around his career lows in receptions and yardage. He has only one touchdown catch, and it didn’t show up until two weeks ago against the Patriots.

His teammates often are quick to defend him, but it’s something that happens too often.

“I think it’s been tough for Slay because he’s been dealing with injuries, trying to do everything he can to go out there and play,” fellow receiver Wan’Dale Robinson told Newsday on Sunday. “He’s not playing all the snaps he wants to play just because he is managing his body, but he is a fighter and he is going to keep coming into work each and every day doing exactly what you want out of your captain.

“It’s been difficult, there have been ups and downs, but I have all the faith in the world in Slay.”

When Slayton was a free agent last offseason, everyone assumed he would bolt, especially with his buddy, quarterback Daniel Jones, no longer around. But he wound up coming back on a three-year deal that pays him $36 million.

He wanted stability. He’s gotten anything but.

The losing has led to several quarterback changes, several coaching changes and, at some point in the next few weeks, likely even more organizational changes. Slayton’s role has changed, too, with the development of Robinson and Malik Nabers’ early injury.

“It’s been, uhh, very fluid I guess is the word I would use,” the thoughtful Slayton said of his 2025 campaign. “I’ve just tried to do my best and be as consistent as I can at things I can control. That’s kind of my approach to it.”

Unfortunately, he’s been consistent in coming up small in some of the biggest moments.

On Sunday, before the drop in the end zone, he flubbed a third-down slant that led to the Giants punting right after they had opened the second half with a touchdown and were starting to show some life.

“Yeah, I just dropped that one,” Slayton said with a these-things-happen tone, as if it were an expected outcome.

Maybe it has become that.

When the Giants were down to their final possession, Dart threw a soft pass in Slayton's direction that was broken up, again by former Giant Hamilton. Dart needed to put more on that one, but Slayton certainly could have come back to it with more oomph, too. He did not.

“I didn’t hold up my end of the bargain for the whole game,” Slayton said.

It’s been much longer than that.

Slayton is a great guy. He is not a great receiver. Not this year. And in a season in which the Giants were counting on him to be both, the achievement is secondary while the shortcoming is glaring.

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.