With questions surrounding the ‘ odd decision to release wide receiver right before Week 1, reporters rightly wanted to get more information about it from head coach .
The move was odd for a few reasons, the first of which has to do with the Giants’ shaky wide receivers room. It certainly wouldn’t have hurt to keep a player who has posted 500 yards or more in all but one of his seven seasons in the NFL.
The second reason it was odd had to do with the timing. Why wait until right before Week 1 to cut Slayton?
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When asked about Slayton’s release on Wednesday, Harbaugh got a little testy with reporters, as he clearly didn’t appreciate the way they asked the questions.
Here’s how the exchange went, per , who noted that Harbaugh “didn’t like the Darius Slayton questions.”
Question: “Why did you guys cut (Former Giants wide receiver) Darius Slayton?”
HARBAUGH: “We always make all of our personnel decisions about what’s best for the team immediately and in the long-term future. What gives us the best chance to be the best team we can be and that’s the choice that we made.”
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Question: “Why’d you cut him then? Like why wait until Week 1?”
HARBAUGH: “No strategy to it. There’s a lot of – there’s a lot of factors. I mean, maybe you can get a trade. Maybe you try to wait as long as you can to see if you work out a contract change, right? There’s a lot of reasons to it, which I really don’t feel obligated to explain. I appreciate the questions. You kind of ask them kind of in a sharp way, like you’re mad or something about it. I don’t really get the emotion coming from you two guys, but we did it because it’s the best thing for our team. And that’s what we’re doing going forward.”
Question: “I think the thing with Slayton is – the best interest of the team. He’s a player who’s been productive in the NFL, for like 500 yards a season on a team that needs receiving a bunch. So, what do you see that makes you think you’re better without him than with him?”
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HARBAUGH: “I watch practice every day, you know, and I see a team that we’re building going forward. So, looking back on past stats is not the metric that we’re using. We’re looking at what we’re going to be going forward and the type of team we want to build. Darius has been great. I mean, he’s a great guy. He worked hard. He worked extremely hard to get himself back from the injury. I don’t think he even – he feels like he’s fully back yet probably, but he will be at some point in time. And where we’re standing right now, it’s just not the best thing for us, but maybe not the best thing for him either. I don’t know. We’ll see how it goes. He’s going to be fine. He’s going to land somewhere, he’s going to play football somewhere and we’re going to move forward. So, that’s how football goes. Nothing lasts forever.”
Duggan later noted that he asked the first question, Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News asked the second, and Connor Hughes of SNY asked the third.
Duggan didn’t think he “sounded mad” when he asked his question, but clearly Harbaugh took it that way.
Say what you want about their tone, but the questions are all valid.
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People who can find the logic in releasing Slayton are few and far between.
Slayton, 29, was a fifth-round pick of the Giants in 2019 and was in the second year of a three-year, $36 million contract, and was the longest-tenured Giant.
Giants’ thin wide receivers room
Not only is that room lacking bodies, it has quite a bit of uncertainty, which is not an ideal situation for a young quarterback like Jaxson Dart.
Nabers is coming back from a torn ACL and may not be himself in his first year back, Mooney is coming off a disappointing season, Fields is a rookie and Beckham has been well past his prime for years now.
It sure seems like the Giants could have used Slayton’s services, but clearly Harbaugh and Co. didn’t feel that way, for whatever reason.
Now stop asking about it.
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