Prior to last Sunday’s cutdown day, there were rumors about the roster security of a number of players around the league and Giants wide receiver Darius Slayton was on that list.
It turned out to be smoke rather than fire as Slayton remained with the team through the cut to 53 players and there’s no sign that the team is planning to make a move involving the veteran wideout at this point. On Tuesday, Slayton was asked his thoughts regarding the speculation about his future.
“Nothing really. It’s not the first time, probably won’t be the last time,” Slayton said, via a transcript from the team. “But I really don’t pay it too much of mind, honestly. I just take it day by day. . . . At the end of the day, you control what you can control and let the rest fall where it may.”
Slayton is heading into his eighth season with the Giants and he was their top receiving target for much of that time. Malik Nabers now occupies that slot and the team will hope he’s healthy enough to ensure that Slayton, Odell Beckham Jr. and the rest of the team’s wideouts are left to complementary roles in the offense.
Giants Clips
Jalin Hyatt’s decision, voluntary or otherwise, to surrender No. 13 to Odell Beckham Jr. wasn’t the only back-to-the-future move when it comes to Giants receiver numbers.
Rookie Malachi Fields shed No. 0, which he had worn during the preseason, for No. 88. And that got Giants fans thinking immediately about former Giants receiver Hakeem Nicks.
A first-round pick in 2009, Nicks spent five years with the Giants, one with the Colts, and a final season with the Giants. He was a member of the Super Bowl XLVI championship team, catching 10 passes for 109 yards in the victory over the Patriots.
But Nicks’s number isn’t the only one making a comeback. Hyatt picked No. 81 after giving up No. 13. That number was worn by Amani Toomer from 1996 through 2008. He was a member of the Super Bowl XLI-winning team, catching six passes for 84 yards in the victory over the Patriots.
Before 2004, receivers typically wore numbers from 80 to 89. In 2004, 10 through 19 were added to the mix. Nowadays, they can also wear single-digit numbers.
Odell Beckham Jr. is back in New York. And he’s now back in No. 13.
The Giants announced the numerical assignment on Tuesday.
As of yesterday, it wasn’t entirely clear that he’d wrest it away from receiver Jalin Hyatt. But with Hyatt on the practice squad, Beckham gets natural priority.
Also, and as Simms observed on PFT Live, Hyatt shouldn’t want No. 13. That jersey hasn’t worked out for him with the Giants.
Beyond getting cut from the roster on Sunday, Hyatt has 36 catches for 470 yards and zero touchdowns in three full seasons wearing No. 13.
In his first 12 games with the Giants in 2014, OBJ had 91 catches for 1,305 yards and 12 touchdowns.
Wide receiver Odell Beckham experienced something new while waiting for the Giants to set their initial 53-man roster for the 2026 season.
Beckham was on the roster bubble since returning to the team this spring and said on Monday that “it was a different feeling” to be unsure about whether he’d wind up making the cut ahead of Week 1. Beckham said it created some pressure to feel “I have to go and get it” after years of being on the top of depth charts and that making it to the regular season was “an honor and a privilege” he wants to take full advantage of moving forward.
“I have an opportunity to rewrite some of the last bit of the chapter,” Beckham said, via a transcript from the team. “Don’t know, last year, whatever it is, I just know I’m going to give my all. But definitely had that moment where it was like you could let out some of the pain that I feel like I went through. It was just very healing, very emotional, something I was very happy about.”
Beckham making it through final cuts was a nice story, but it will be less resonant if it isn’t followed by meaningful contributions to the team during the season. It’s been a while since the wideout has made that kind of an impact, so it remains to be seen just how different the final chapter will wind up looking.
Wide receiver Malik Nabers’s availability for Week 1 remains one of the biggest questions for the Giants.
Nabers steadily increased his practice participation over the course of the summer, but neither he nor the team has said anything definitive about his status for Week 1 against the Cowboys. That continued during the wideout’s press conference on Monday when he said he feels good, but “there’s still some things that you still have to check off the box for you to participate.”
Nabers added that he does not want to come back on a pitch count or with other limitations to what he’s able to do.
“My mind is focused on playing the regular season, playing whenever that is and playing what team it is,” Nabers said, via a transcript from the team. “I’m going to be making sure that I’m ready to go out there and I’m healthy enough to play all four quarters. That nobody got to make sure I’m not in on every play or they have to make sure I got enough snaps or my snaps are limited. So, that’s the main focus is just trying to be out there as much as I can.”
Nabers said he’ll keep the remaining “checkpoints” to himself and the Giants will be hoping he reaches them in time for Dallas.
Receiver Odell Beckham Jr. is back with the Giants, for the first time since 2018. And he hopes to soon be back in the number he used to wear there.
Receiver Jalin Hyatt had it. He still does, but Hyatt was waived and signed to the practice squad. Beckham should have dibs, since he’s on the roster.
“I think we all know what that means to me,” Beckham told reporters on Monday regarding the possibility of wearing 13 again, via Charlotte Carroll of The Athletic. “There definitely will be some conversations. I’ll just say we’ll see what happens. But like I said, it would be an honor and a privilege to put that back on.”
Beckham has worn No. 3 during the preseason, but that number belongs to linebacker Abdul Carter.
Although Hyatt has worn it for three seasons in New York, he’s not currently on the 53-man roster. It should be an easy game of rock-paper-scissors, one that won’t require Beckham to write a check.
The Giants released Braxton Berrios on Sunday, but there was word that the team planned to have the veteran wide receiver and kick returner back in the fold ahead of Week 1.
Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that the avenue for Berrios’s return will be via the practice squad. As Berrios is a vested veteran and did not have to go through waivers, a signing can take place right away.
Berrios signed with the team after Gunner Olszewski tore his Achilles this spring and he can be elevated to fill a returner role for the Giants when they face the Cowboys in the opening week of the regular season.
Berrios was an All-Pro returner for the Jets in 2021 and has career averages of 11.2 yards per punt return and 24.9 yards per kickoff return.
Odell Beckham Jr. has made the Giants’ initial 53-man roster and his No. 13 jersey is now available.
Wide receiver Jalin Hyatt was among the cuts that the Giants made to get down to the roster limit. Hyatt was a 2023 third-round pick, but he only caught 36 passes over his first three NFL seasons.
The Giants also waived or released quarterbacks Brandon Allen and Jake Haener; wide receivers Braxton Berrios, Dalen Cambre, Xavier Gipson, Isaiah Hodgins, and Kobe Prentice; defensive linemen Anquin Barnes, Ben Barten, Marlon Davidson, Leki Fotu, Josh Topou, and Zacch Pickens; linebackers Trace Ford, Khalid Kareem, Chandler Martin, Darius Muasau, Caleb Murphy, and Anfernee Orji; defensive backs Ugo Amadi, Beau Brade, Art Green, Raheem Layne, and J.T. Woods; offensive linemen Jarrod Gray, Brenden Jaimes, Jake Kubas, Evan Neal, Lucas Patrick, and Ryan Schernecke; running backs Damon Bankston, Grant Finley, and Eric Gray; tight ends Tanner Conner and Josiah Deguara; and kicker Ben Sauls.
Cornerback Korie Black was placed on injured reserve and designated for return.
The Giants have released offensive lineman Evan Neal, Art Stapleton of northjersey.com reports.
Neal has not played since 2024.
The Giants selected him seventh overall in the 2024 draft, and he began his career at right tackle. The Giants moved him to right guard, and he did not play a snap.
He ends his Giants career with 29 games played, including 27 starts.
The Giants had listed Neal as a co-second-teamer with Aaron Stinnie at right guard.
Odell Beckham Jr.'s second tour of duty with the Giants isn’t ending on Sunday.
Jordan Raanan of ESPN.com reports that Beckham has made the team’s initial 53-man roster. Head coach John Harbaugh suggested Beckham would survive cutdown day when he said the wideout has done enough to make an NFL roster after the team’s final preseason game, but hedged a bit the next day when asked if he had made the Giants’ 53-man roster.
Beckham was a Giants first-round pick in 2014 and remained with the club until he was traded to the Browns in 2018. He went on to play for the Rams, Ravens and Dolphins, but missed the 2022 season after tearing his ACL and was out of the league last year.
Calvin Austin’s torn ACL likely helped solidify Beckham’s hold on a roster spot and there’s been speculation about Darius Slayton’s possible departure ahead of the 6 p.m. ET deadline to set the initial roster.
