Like many others in the New York Giants community, wide receiver Darius Slayton had literally no idea who Joe Judge was upon learning that he would become the team’s next head coach.
“Yeah, I had not heard of him prior to the Giants hiring him,” Slayton told SNY. “But you know he’s coming from a really good organization. Everybody I’ve heard speak about him has glowing things to say about him, so I’m sure he’ll be a good guy for the job.”
Slayton’s emotions after learning of the hiring took the same trajectory just about everyone else’s did, going from confusion to excitement after hearing Judge speak.
“I know he talked about giving us a more physical identity as a team,” Slayton said. “I think it’s definitely good. I think often times in football the most physical team ends up winning the game. He’s the head coach, so whatever he sees fit to get the job done, I look forward to.
“I played in the SEC, man. It ain’t a 7-on-7 league down there, you know what I’m saying? I’m not foreign to that kind of football.”
Slayton is poised to become an important part of Judge’s personnel after exploding as a fifth-round rookie and even drawing substantial praise from his opponents. And he’s not sleeping on himself or this team despite the perceptions that they are rebuilding.
“We have a lot of young talent,” Slayton said. “Most importantly we have a young, really talented quarterback, which these days is probably one of the best things to have.
“So I definitely wouldn’t consider us rebuilding. Even if you look at our core from last year, we had Sterling [Shepard], Saquon [Barkley[ and Evan Engram, [Daniel Jones], myself, Golden [Tate]. . . So it’s just a matter of getting everyone on field at same time and we have a chance to be very, very good.”
