Fantasy Upside
Darius Slayton had an excellent rookie season. He caught 48 balls for a team-high 740 yards and eight touchdowns, showing off big-play ability and a unique outside skill-set not found elsewhere on the roster. Slayton developed a nice rapport with quarterback Daniel Jones and should benefit from some natural progression, both from Jones and himself heading into their sophomore seasons. The Giants lost a lot of games last year, and there’s no reason to suspect their third-worst defense will improve much this season, giving him high potential for triple-digit targets as the only legitimate outside threat on this team.
Fantasy Downside
While Slayton’s production was impressive for a rookie, six of his eight touchdowns came against the Lions, Jets and Eagles, all teams with cornerback concerns – the Lions were missing Darius Slay against the Giants. Slayton also benefitted from Golden Tate, Sterling Shepard and Evan Engram all missing time for various reasons. In the six games where Engram and Slayton were both active, Slayton averaged just 3.8 targets compared to 7.6 targets when Engram was out. That may be partially due to Slayton becoming a bigger part of the offense as the season progressed, but it’s notable that the most targets he had in a game – 15 against the Jets – came in a game where Engram and Shepard were both missing.
2020 Bottom Line
Slayton’s significant upside as a starting outside receiver on a team likely to throw the ball a lot makes him a bargain at his current ADP. While he does have hype surrounding him, he’s still being drafted as late as the 10th round in 12-team leagues. We have him ranked fairly low, 48th, but he has as much upside as any of the other wide receivers being drafted around him. If you’re looking for upside at the WR3/4 spot on your roster, Slayton has the potential to develop into a WR1.
