Darius Slayton
AP Photo/Adam Hunger

New York Giants fifth-round draft pick Darius Slayton practiced with the first team on Tuesday at OTAs.

Darius Slayton is a speedy wide receiver out of Auburn who’s looking to fill a huge need out wide. After the New York Giants traded away star wideout Odell Beckham Jr., the team needed someone to step up.

Currently, that someone is Young Slay.

Slayton is now starting to practice with the ones signifying that he is right behind Sterling Shepard and Golden Tate. While he has big shoes to fill, the rookie has been improving on a daily basis.

Slayton comes in as a raw product out of Auburn with a tendency to drop balls. In his college career, he did not put up big numbers and was mostly valued as a deep threat.

He used his 6-foot-1 stature and 40.5-inch vertical leap to get higher than receivers as well. It may seem that Slayton had all the tangibles; however, his low catch percentage forced him to drop to the fifth round of the draft.

The rookie carried his case of the dropsies into rookie minicamp. It was a grim start to his NFL career as he was getting passed up by undrafted free agents.

Through it all, he didn’t sweat it. Instead, he has worked on his game and has gotten comfortable with his new team.

“The guy that’s made huge improvements in my eyes has been Slayton. He’s done a really good job. I think we were all here during rookie minicamp when he kind of had the yips, drops and what not. He’s really smoothed it out and he’s been making plays,” Pat Shurmur said after a minicamp.

Overall, Slayton has done a phenomenal job in terms of improving his consistency. It has seemed that the rest of the coaching staff has also taken notice of this as Darius Slayton is now vying for a starting job.

High School Student. New York Giants writer. Email: jeevankirkland19@gmail.com