CHICAGO — Little, if anything, has gone the way the Giants and Darius Slayton envisioned it would go after the team and the player surprised most everyone last March with the news that he was staying around with a three-year contract for $36 million.
Slayton is struggling through a rough seventh year with the team that selected him in the fifth round of the 2019 draft, making him the longest-tenured player on offense. In the season opener, Slayton played 66 snaps at Washington and did not catch a pass.
It has not gotten appreciably better. He had a costly fumble in the loss in New Orleans and dropped what should have been a touchdown reception in last week’s 34-24 loss to the 49ers.
Slayton enters Sunday’s game against the Bears with 19 catches for 254 yards and no touchdowns in seven games. He has not come close to picking up the slack after Malik Nabers tore his ACL in Week 4.
“I have a ton of confidence in Slay and all the stuff that he does in the pass game, in the run game, who he is as a leader, the captain of the team, how he is in the meeting rooms,’’ offensive coordinator Mike Kafka said. “Listen, we’re right in the middle of it in the season, and there’s a lot of season left. So, we’re excited.’’
This could be the first game for the Giants this season where weather is a big factor. The forecast in Chicago for Sunday is for a low of 26 degrees, high of 36 degrees, snow showers and wind at 25-35 mph, with even stronger gusts possible.
This figures to be the first “weather game’’ for Jaxson Dart with the Giants, but it will not be his first action in adverse conditions.
“I’m from Utah,’’ he said. “If you know anything about Utah, I played in four seasons. I played in snow games in high school. That’s not something that is new to me. I played out at high school where the wind blew, it was right outside of a canyon.
“I dealt with that every single day as well. The weather has never been something that’s — you’ve got to make adjustments. In my mind, I feel like I’ve had plenty of experience.’’
The Giants made a series of roster moves Saturday to get their personnel in order heading into Sunday’s game against the Bears.
K Younghoe Koo and WR Ray-Ray McCloud were elevated from the practice squad. Koo, 31, will make his Giants debut in place of Graham Gano, out with a neck injury.
Koo is an eight-year veteran with a career field-goal success rate of 85.8 percent. He was cut earlier this season by the Falcons.
In corresponding moves, LB Darius Muasau and WR Beaux Collins were placed on injured reserve, meaning they will miss the next four games.
Also, LBs Tomon Fox and Zaire Barnes were signed to the active roster.
The Giants get back one of their two starting cornerbacks, as Cor’Dale Flott returns after missing one game with a concussion.
Paulson Adebo (knee) will miss his third consecutive game.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
