Former Auburn WR released by New York Giants entering 8th season
By Jacob Moss
Published:
College football teams across the country have already kicked off their respective 2026 campaigns, but the 32 franchises that make up the NFL won’t begin their new season until this week.
For many pro players on the fringes of NFL rosters, the last few days before kickoff are usually spent anxiously waiting to see whether or not they will make it past the final round of cuts.
One former Auburn Tigers standout unfortunately found himself on the opposite side of this equation on Monday afternoon, as CBS Sports insider Matt Zenitz reported that the New York Giants officially released veteran wide receiver Darius Slayton.
A 4-star recruit coming out of high school, Slayton was a standout pass catcher at Auburn from 2016-2018, where he hauled in 79 catches for 1,605 yards and 11 touchdowns in his collegiate career. He declared for the NFL Draft a year early after his junior season and was selected by the Giants as a fifth-round pick in 2019.
Over the course of his 7 seasons with New York, Slayton became a reliable second or third option in the passing game, racking up 296 receptions for 4,435 yards and 22 touchdowns. That production earned him a 3-year, $36 million extension in the spring of 2025, a contract he was about to enter the second year of.
Slayton had been rehabbing a core injury he got surgery on in the offseason, and he will now be on the hunt for a new team to call home just days before the start of the 2026 season.
