Cue the final line in Casablanca: “I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”
Darius Slayton did not say it, and he might not have ever heard of it, but there is certainly a chance the sentiment fits, when considering what Slayton does well and what Russell Wilson has been known to do exceedingly well at the NFL level for the past 13 years.
Slayton likes to go long.
Wilson is adept at throwing long.
This could be something for the Giants to feel excited about.
“I love going deep,’’ Slayton said after a hotter-than-usual organized team activity practice. “That’s kind of how I made my name, so to speak, in the league was making plays down the field, but it’s not just myself. All of us can run. Malik [Nabers] can run, Jalin [Hyatt] can run. Even Wan’Dale [Robinson], his mini legs be moving, so he can run too.
“And it’s shown over OTAs, it’s shown, I think everybody’s probably touched the ball down the field from us at some point. So, I think it’ll help everybody be able to stretch the field and add some yards per catch.’’
If that happens, Wilson will be more than worth the one-year, $10.5 million investment the Giants made in him.
And Slayton will be even more pleased that he decided to stick around.
Near the end of a dismal 3-14 season, Slayton looked weary standing at his locker, having to explain yet another feeble offensive showing after another desultory loss.
It was wearing on him, the cumulative effect of spending six years with the Giants, wading through five losing seasons, only one playoff berth and far too much difficulty scoring and moving the ball.
“It’s exhausting,’’ he said, sounding disgusted and ready to move on.
At that point, it felt more likely co-owner John Mara would hire as the new team pilot the person that last season flew a small plane toting the angry message over MetLife Stadium than it was Slayton would be where he is nowadays.
He resisted what would have been a perfectly understandable urge to sign elsewhere, and the Giants, somewhat surprisingly, did not push for a shake-up by looking outside the organization for help at wide receiver.
That Slayton secured a three-year contract for $36 million — $22 million guaranteed — was one of the truly surprising offseason developments.
Even more surprising, considering that when the Joe Schoen-Brian Daboll regime arrived in 2022, Slayton had to take a pay cut to stay on the roster and had to fight hard to notch a role for himself within the offense.
“He’s a pro, first and foremost,’’ Daboll said. “He never let any circumstance get in his way of him continuing to try to improve and do his job. And when he’s had opportunities, he’s made plays for us. He has good leadership traits, and he’s been here a long time in NFL years. He’s good with the young guys. The quarterbacks [have] got a lot of trust in him. I certainly do, but I just appreciate his discipline and how he goes about his job, his attitude — whether things were good, whether things were bad — his work ethic, that’s why we brought him back.’’
Slayton was fast friends and an overt supporter of Daniel Jones — Slayton, Jones and Dexter Lawrence were the longest-tenured Giants, all arriving in the 2019 draft class — but time moves on.
“Obviously, I came back. I was confident in the direction that we were going to go in, and obviously once we make the acquisitions, obviously a lot of people mostly focus on the quarterback position,’’ Slayton said. “Once we acquire the guys we have now that obviously just raised the confidence level of, all right, we have a chance to be a really, really good offense.’’
Slayton’s production took a dip last season, as his 39 receptions were the second fewest of his six-year career.
That meager production came despite 71 targets, a glaring reminder that the quarterback play, distributed among four of them — Jones, Tommy DeVito, Drew Lock and Tim Boyle — was largely atrocious.
Slayton, though, still averaged 14.7 yards per catch, commensurate with his career average of 15 yards per catch.
The Giants, with 34 completions of 20 or more yards in 2024, matched the Patriots for the fewest successful deep balls in the league.
Enter Wilson.
Despite an uneven one season with the Steelers, Wilson remains one of the best in the business in pushing the ball down the field.
He was tops last year in the NFL in deep-ball efficiency, completing 54 percent.
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This spring, the long, high-arching moonball Wilson is renowned for has filled the air during practices.
“It’s been awesome,’’ Slayton said. “His knowledge of the game has shown already. Obviously, he has amazing talent with the ball. Accuracy, great touch on the deep balls. I don’t really know that he’s missed more than one or two deep balls this whole camp. He is really accurate, really smart. He’s helped keep us in good plays throughout the whole camp. So, his impact has been felt for sure.’’