Getty The New York Giants are shopping wide receiver Darius Slayton on the trading block, according to Dan Duggan of The Athletic.
Former first round draft pick Kadarius Toney isn’t the only New York Giants wide receiver on the trading block.
According to Dan Duggan of The Athletic, the Giants have been shopping fourth-year wideout Darius Slayton.
Slayton, a fifth-round draft selection by the Giants in 2019, received a proven performance escalator, which bumped his salary up from $920,000 to $2.5 million in 2022. That is because Slayton played in over 35 percent of the Giants’ offensive snaps across his first three seasons in the NFL.
First-year general manager Joe Schoen is desperate to clear more salary cap space, and Slayton could be looked at as expendable, given his diminished role and impact a season ago.
“The challenge with a trade is other teams can get their own version of Slayton for much cheaper in the draft,” Duggan wrote. “Don’t be surprised if Slayton doesn’t make the final roster if the Giants aren’t able to find a trade partner and their cap situation remains tight.”
Slayton burst onto the scene during his rookie campaign with 48 receptions for 740 yards and eight touchdowns. While he was able to increase his receptions (50) and yards (751) totals in year two, the 25-year-old scored just three touchdowns in 2020. And last season, Slayton’s production slipped, recording 25 catches for 339 yards and two touchdowns across 13 games. The Auburn Tigers product has committed 12 drops in his last 29 games.
If Toney sticks around, Slayton would project as the fourth wide receiver on the Giants’ offense, which features Kenny Golladay and Sterling Shepard, too. This could lead to Schoen and the Giants cutting ties with Slayton regardless of whether they’re able to trade him.
Toney Finally Arrives
Despite skipping out on the first three weeks of new head coach Brian Daboll’s voluntary offseason program, Toney showed up on Monday.
On Friday, April 22, Pat Leonard of The New York Daily News reported that the Giants were open to trading Toney, a first round pick in 2021, after a rocky rookie season.
However, Bobby Skinner of Jomboy Media’s Talkin’ Giants revealed that Toney arrived in New York/New Jersey on Saturday and was in the building on Monday for voluntary workouts.
This was later confirmed by Duggan, who added: “Nothing like some trade rumors to get a player to hop on a flight…”
As Ralph Vacchiano of SNY went onto report, the Giants weren’t actively shopping Toney and still remain high on his potential. But the team is still frustrated about some of the 23-year-old’s off the field antics.
NFL Insider’s Latest Mock Draft
With the 2022 NFL draft rapidly approaching in three days on April 28, the Giants currently hold two top 10 picks at No. 5 and No. 7.
NFL insider Peter King of NBC Sports recently took another crack at predicting what the Giants might do with these two selections in his latest mock draft.
According to King, the Giants will take Mississippi State offensive tackle Charles Cross with the fifth pick. And instead of trading back from No. 7, they’ll use this selection to get defensive coordinator Don “Wink” Martindale a new toy in safety Kyle Hamilton from the University of Notre Dame.
Earlier in the month, King projected the Giants to select North Carolina State offensive tackle Ikem Ekwonu with the fifth pick and swap the seventh pick with the Los Angeles Chargers at No. 17.
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