Colts part ways with Darius Slayton

Slayton was listed as questionable after injuring his knee during practice on Friday. He’s since been ruled out, postponing his Colts debut for another week. Nick Westbrook-Ikene has been elevated from the Colts’ practice squad.

The Colts are banged up at wide receiver and ESPN’s Stephen Holder believes this might have been the week the Colts finally got Slayton involved. He suffered a knee injury in Friday’s practice, though. He does not need to be rostered in 12-team formats.

The seven-year veteran was released by the Giants prior to the start of the regular season, now landing on his feet in Indianapolis to presumably fill in for the injured Alec Pierce. Pierce recently re-injured the heel he had offseason surgery on and will miss an undetermined number of games. Slayton brings a similar, field-stretching archetype to a Colts team in desperate need of someone to elongate the middle of the field. It remains most likely that Josh Downs steps into the featured role through the air.

The longest-tenured Giants player is now in search of a new home after the team opted to release the 29-year-old receiver on Monday. Slayton was reportedly at risk of not making the initial 53-man roster out of camp, but survived the initial cuts only to be released a week later. During his seven seasons with the Giants, Slayton totaled 296 receptions for 4,435 yards and 22 touchdowns while serving primarily as a field stretcher. He posted four seasons of 724 or more receiving yards and had an impressive rookie campaign when he went for 48-740-8 as a rookie fifth-rounder out of Auburn. Slayton should have no trouble finding a new home in the coming days, but it may take some time before he’s back to seeing the field in a meaningful capacity.

Slayton will likely miss all of the early offseason program leading up to camp. His absence could give rookie wideout Malachi Fields more reps with the first-team offense. Free agent addition Darnell Mooney will likely run with the ones as well. Slayton has been a consistent deep threat for the Giants since being drafted in 2019, but the team’s moves at wideout this offseason suggest a smaller role is likely for the veteran wideout.

Slayton had a huge 72-yard touchdown catch called back due to an offensive pass interference penalty that didn’t seem necessary. He will end the season with 37 catches on 63 targets for 538 yards and one touchdown in 14 games. Slayton is under contract for one more season, but the Giants can opt out of it if they want to take on $3 million in dead cap space. It’s more likely that Slayton remains as the team’s deep threat in 2026.

Robinson enters free agency off his first career 1,000-yard season, shedding his label as a quick-game only option by setting a career-high with 11.0 yards per reception. He turns 25 in a few days and will be one of the premiere free agents at wideout to hit the market if the Giants don’t tag him or otherwise extend him. The final seasonal line will be 92/1014/4 for Robinson, and his absence leaves Darius Slayton as a fine FLEX play in Week 18.

Slayton lined up in the slot on the Giants’ fourth drive, got open on a corner route and hauled in a pass from QB Jaxson Dart that netted him 18 yards. Unfortunately, Slayton had to backpedal to nab the ball and ultimately fell over after securing the pass. He was quickly touched down by a Raiders defender. Slayton earned an end zone target from nine yards out on the following drive, but a Raiders defender successfully contested the catch in the air. Slayton is just a boom-bust FLEX against the Cowboys next week.

Slayton saw 10 targets last week and went for 53 yards on four grabs. He failed to repeat the solid performance and instead committed yet another drop. His hands have been a liability all year and his latest drop could result in less playing time next week. He isn’t on the fantasy radar heading into Week 17.

Slayton hauled in a 19-yard connection with Jaxson Dart, but the rest of the connections were of the shorter variety. Double-digit targets is nice, doing something with them would a lot nicer. He’ll be back at it in Week 16 against the Vikings, and he’s nothing more than FLEX play — at best — for that contest.