Dustin Satloff/Getty Images Darius Slayton of the New York Giants celebrates after scoring a touchdown against Washington on January 9, 2022.
“It’s no secret that the Ravens are hurting for receiving talent,” writes Michael Renner of Pro Football Focus (PFF) in his August 17 column. That said, it’s no surprise that Baltimore is being linked to a handful of wide receivers that could be on the trading block. That includes fourth-year wideout Darius Slayton, a former fifth-round pick of the New York Giants who had an electric start to his career but has since “moved in the wrong direction on the depth chart,” notes Brad Spielberger of PFF.
Darius Slayton in Exchange For a 6th-Round Pick?
“Slayton burst onto the scene as a rookie in 2019 with eight touchdown receptions and a 15.4 yards per reception average, a top-25 mark at wide receiver,” relates Spielberger, who regards the Ravens as one of the best “team fits” for Slayton. The Auburn product certainly seems in need of a fresh start elsewhere in the NFL, now that he finds himself behind the likes of Kenny Golladay, Kadarius Toney and rookie Wan’Dale Robinson on New York’s depth chart.
Spielberger projects that Slayton, 25, could be acquired at the cost of a 2023 sixth-round pick. In return the Ravens would be getting a 6-foot-1 wide receiver who had 26 catches for 339 yards and two receiving touchdowns in 13 games (five starts) in 2021.
The hope would be for Slayton to provide production more akin to his first two seasons in the league, when he caught a total of 98 passes for 1,491 yards and 11 touchdowns.
That’s pretty good value for a player selected No. 171 overall in 2019, though his salary is set to rise considerably — to $2.54 million — in the final year of his rookie deal, as per overthecap.com. If he is cut or traded, New York will be charged a dead money cap hit of just $58,721, the prorated portion of the signing bonus on his first NFL contract.
Notably, the Giants made an attempt to showcase Slayton during the team’s first preseason game.
“Slayton was targeted with two passes and took an end-around handoff on his five snaps with the starters in the preseason opener against the Patriots, said Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post. “He gained 19 yards from scrimmage.”
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WR Shemar Bridges Among PFF’s Top Graded UDFAs
Meanwhile, rookie undrafted free agent wide receiver Shemar Bridges (Fort Valley State) continues to make his case for a spot on Baltimore’s 53-man roster. Bridges was Pro Football Focus’ 10th-highest graded undrafted rookie free agent during Week 1 of the preseason, earning an 86.2 grade by virtue of catching four passes for 62 yards and a touchdown.
“He’s not much of a natural separator — few are at 6-foot-4, 208 pounds — but his physicality and catch radius are the real deal,” writes Renner, who also has Ravens inside linebacker John Ross (91.5 PFF grade) on his Top 10 list.
Tyler Linderbaum Returns This Week
In other news from Wednesday, the team’s official website reports that rookie first-round pick Tyler Linderbaum will be returning to practice on or about Friday August 19.
Linderbaum suffered a foot injury two weeks ago.
“I don’t anticipate him playing in (Sunday’s preseason) game, but he’ll start working his way back in – it looks like – on Friday. We’ll see, but that’s how it looks right now,” said Ravens head coach John Harbaugh.
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