Darius Slayton has been reunited with Daniel Jones.
Both began their NFL careers with the New York Giants, but now both play for the Indianapolis Colts. Slayton signed with Indy in the lead-up to Week 3, in part because of the injury to Alec Pierce.
It’s a chance for a quarterback and wide receiver to be together again. Having built up chemistry in the past surely has to help now.
“Really enjoyed playing alongside him,” Slayton told the Colts’ official website. “He’s a good quarterback. He’s smart. He can spin it… Philosophically, I think we see the field pretty similarly, and that’s something that worked well for us in the past. And I expect it to work well for us going forward.”
It’s worth a look back to see just how this duo played when they were on the field together.
Darius Slayton Stats With Daniel Jones
Both Jones and Slayton began their careers with the Giants in 2019.
In that first season, Jones started 12 games. Slayton made his NFL debut in Jones’ first start and had three catches for 82 yards.
He also had a monster, 10 catches on 15 targets, game with 121 yards and two touchdowns in Week 10 with Jones starting against the Jets.
Slayton also had games with 67 yards, 62 yards, 50 yards and 50 yards while Jones was starting in their respective rookie seasons.
They played almost an entire 2020 season together. It included games of Slayton for 6-102 and 8-129. Slayton also had a 93-yard game that year from Jones.
Jones started the first 11 games in 2021. Slayton had three games above 50 yards in that span as he took a backseat overall in the Giants’ passing attack.
This is where it’s worth noting — Slayton was never really Jones’ WR1. He was just a solid contributor. The fact that he has any big games at all with Jones is a good sign.
Jones started every game in 2022, a season where Slayton ramped up slowly due to injury. He did end up with games of 95 yards, 90 yards, 86 yards, 79 yards, 79 yards again, 66 yards, 63 yards and 58 yards across that campaign.
The oft-injured Jones played just six games for the Giants in 2023. He did get Slayton above 50 yards in two of them.
The 2024 season was Jones’ last with the Giants, and he started the first 10 games. Slayton twice went over 100 yards in those games.
What This Means
With the Colts, like with the Giants, Slayton won’t necessarily be the most-targeted player.
However, his time with Jones already has shown that when this duo is on the field together, they can occasionally put together a big game.
It’s a better sign than if Slayton had struggled to ever put together a notable stat line when Jones played.
The reality is that Slayton isn’t as much of a big-play threat than Pierce, but he has often averaged 15 or more yards per catch in a season, and that still sets him up to make some splash plays for Jones — and we already know that Jones trusts him.
Darius Slayton With Daniel Jones History Shows Promising Stats for Colts