A year ago Tuesday, which was the mandatory final cutdown day for NFL teams, Darius Slayton was ready to pack his bags and move on.
The receiver’s career with the Giants appeared to be finished after three seasons. It seemed he was on the wrong side of the roster bubble and would be a goner.
“For anybody looking at it from the outside in, that’s what it looked like,’’ Giants veteran receiver Sterling Shepard told The Post.
Slayton was ready to face his fate — whatever that may have been — when a funny thing happened on his way the waiver wire: He didn’t get cut.
The Giants, at the start of the 2022 season, had injury issues at receiver, as well as some lack of production. Suddenly, Slayton not only played a fourth season with the Giants, but also finished as their second-leading receiver in 2022 with 46 receptions.
So, as the Giants made their final cuts Tuesday to pare the 2023 roster to 53 players, Slayton didn’t have a sweat out a damn thing. His roster spot was cemented. Thanks to his perseverance, patience and persistence, he will enter this season as one of the Giants’ top receivers, and a leader in the wide receivers room.
“I was just telling him the other day how proud of him I am,’’ Shepard, the longest-tenured player on the Giants, said. “I’ve been here since he was a rookie and have seen his growth. Last year at the beginning of the season, he was in sweats on the sideline the first couple of weeks. But he stuck through it and he’s made the best of his opportunities.
“I’m just super proud of that dude, because he’s been through a lot.’’
There’s a big reason why Slayton is still a Giant: Because his drive isn’t one bit less with job security than it was without it.
“Even though my predicament is different, I still feel like I have something to prove,’’ Slayton told The Post. “I have to go out there and perform at a high level this year just like I did last year. Obviously, the situation that I’m in is a little different, but I don’t think my mindset is much different than it has been.
“I just always feels like I have more to show. I feel that I still have yet to play the best that I can play. I believe that if I play my best ball that it’s up there with whoever it is.’’
Slayton is precisely the kind of player head coach Brian Daboll appreciates and wants on his team. Slayton not only is productive on the field, but also he’s a positive example for the younger players off of the field.
“I’ve been very pleased with Slay,’’ Daboll said Tuesday. “A true pro. I think he dealt with some adversity when we first were here, obviously in training camp and in the early part of the season. [He’s] had nothing but a great positive attitude, a team-first player and has had a good training camp for us.’’
Part of Slayton staying with the Giants last season included agreeing to take a pay cut, reducing his 2022 salary from $2.54 million to the league veteran minimum of $965,000.
“I’ve just got a ton of respect for him and his story,’’ fellow Giants receiver Isaiah Hodgins told The Post. “Him starting the year last year on the sideline and taking a pay cut and ending up as a starting receiver with good stats and emerging. … He’s been through a lot of adversity and persevered. At any given time, you have to be ready when your number’s called, and he’s the definition of that.’’
Former Colts receiver Parris Campbell, whom the Giants signed as a free agent in the offseason, said he had no idea about Slayton’s story until he got here and has been inspired by him since he arrived, calling him his closest friend on the team.
“The one thing that jumps out to me about his situation last year is he never felt sorry for himself,’’ Campbell said. “Even with the situation that he was in, it’s easy to think, ‘I should have been this,’ or, ‘I could have been that.’ But that’s not him at all.
“With all the injuries, he was able to get another opportunity, and he freaking ran with it. Stories like his are what make careers. That’s real life in the NFL. He had to experience it, and he overcame it. That says a lot about him, for sure. Shoot, through that time when he was inactive, he could have said, ‘All right, I’m not going to continue to work,’ and then it could have gone the opposite way.
“It’s incredible that he stayed locked in all that time and waited on his moment.’’