Giants release WR Darius Slayton, their longest-tenured player, before Week 1

Pat Leonard, New York Daily News on Sep 7, 2026

Published in Football

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NEW YORK — Once a Giant, no longer a Giant.

Wide receiver Darius Slayton, the club’s longest-tenured player, was abruptly released Monday evening, only hours after the team returned from the holiday weekend to begin its Week 1 prep for the Dallas Cowboys.

“Grateful for my time in NY,” Slayton posted on X. “7 years a Giant nothing but love for one of the most prestigious organizations in the NFL. Excited to see what’s next.”

Slayton’s release was not surprising in itself.

John Harbaugh dropped Slayton, 29, who is coming off double offseason hernia surgery, down his depth chart during training camp.

There was no longer a regular place in the receiver rotation for Slayton. The Giants’ offense is going bigger with fewer three-receiver sets, further marginalizing his role.

And Malik Nabers, Malachi Fields, Darnell Mooney and Odell Beckham Jr. were all clearly ahead of Slayton.

Add in Braxton Berrios, the Giants’ punt returner and backup slot receiver, and that squeezed Slayton out.

In fact, if wideout Calvin Austin hadn’t torn his ACL late in August, Slayton might not have even made the team out of training camp.

It was no secret that the Giants would have welcomed a trade for Slayton if they could have gotten something meaningful in return.

But carrying Slayton this close to Sunday’s season opener and then releasing him suggests the wide receiver may have been the one to force the issue.

Slayton was possibly on the verge of being inactive Sunday night against the Cowboys. It would be understandable if he asked for a fresh start once that reality crystallized for him at Monday’s closed practice.

He was visibly frustrated with his lack of targets at times in the preseason, and he played deep into the preseason finale against the Jets.

It is expensive for the Giants to cut Slayton outright like this. They could have used the receiver depth, too.

The Giants are eating $12.7 million in dead money against this year’s salary cap and saving only $3.1 million by releasing him.

Thats because $9.7 million of his $12.2 million salary in 2026 is guaranteed, a brutal contract crafted by the same people whose failures led to Harbaugh’s hiring and assimilation of final say over the organization’s decisions in the first place.

Slayton outperformed his fifth-round draft selection in 2019 out of Auburn, catching 296 passes for 4,435 yards and 22 touchdowns.

He led the Giants in receiving yards in back-to-back seasons with 724 yards in 2022 and 770 in 2023. And he has been huge for Nabers, often guiding the young receiver out of the huddle on his responsibilities with different play calls.

But now he’s out the door and moving on.

In the spring, it was long-tenured defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence demanding a trade and having it granted to Cincinnati.

In the fall, it is Slayton, a thoughtful person who weathered a lot of losing and often spoke for the team in its lowest moments, getting a ticket out of town.

These are the “new” New York Giants. Sunday night, Harbaugh gets to show the world if new means better, or just different.

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