With so much focus on whether former Giants star receiver Odell Beckham Jr. will make the team in his first year back on the roster since 2018, a receiver drafted a month after OBJ would traded is in danger of not surviving Sunday's cuts.
Paul Schwartz of the New York Post reports that Darius Slayton is on the bubble.
The report is bolstered by specific facts. First, Schwartz writes that Slayton is "clearly not moving the same" after surgery to repair a sports hernia. Second, Slayton played extensively in the preseason finale against the Jets — a game during which most of the obvious starters were held out.
Slayton stayed in the game even after quarterback Jameis Winston exited for Brandon Allen.
Slayton and Beckham, who possibly are competing for the same spot on the 53-man roster, played 33 snaps each. (Isaiah Hodgins and Dalen Cambre had 37 snaps each.)
A fifth-round pick in 2019, Slayton has appeared in 106 regular-season games with 78 starts in seven seasons. Last year, he signed a three-year, $36 million contract.
He's due to make $12.25 million in salary this year, with $500,000 in per-game active roster bonuses. A whopping $9.75 million of his salary is fully guaranteed.
Cutting him would leave behind a $12.75 million cap charge in 2026, with another $3 million applying in 2027.
A trade is also possible, in theory. The Giants surely would have to pay a significant portion of his guaranteed salary in order to make it happen.
The team's preseason depth chart continues to list Slayton as a starter, along with Malik Nabers.
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