The Cowboys won’t have left guard Tyler Smith for multiple weeks after he underwent thumb surgery this week. They placed him on injured reserve Wednesday.
The team has another concern at guard.
Backup right guard Ajani Cornelius has a knee injury that limited him in Wednesday’s practice.
T.J. Bass will start at left guard in place of Smith.
Bass and starting right guard Tyler Booker were the only healthy guards on the Cowboys’ 53-player roster until they signed Nick Leverett off the practice squad. They also signed veteran guard Laken Tomlinson to the practice squad on Wednesday.
The only other injury for the Cowboys is a groin injury for defensive tackle Jonathan Bullard, but he was a full participant.
Third-string quarterback Joe Milton, who is on the practice squad, missed practice with an excused absence, per Todd Archer of ESPN.
Giants Clips
Wide receiver Malik Nabers has not played in almost a year, since tearing his right ACL in a Sept. 28 game against the Chargers. The Giants have been coy about his status for the season opener against the Cowboys, but Nabers was a full participant in Wednesday’s padded practice.
“I think he’s ready to go, man,” coach John Harbaugh said after practice, via video from SNY Giants. “We’ll see. It’s still four days until we play. If he’s ready to go, and he feels like he’s ready to go, then he’ll play. If he’s not ready, then he won’t play.”
Nabers said Monday he didn’t want to come back on a snap count, and it appears he won’t be. He caught nine passes for 167 yards and two touchdowns in a Week 2 loss to the Cowboys last season.
Every player on the Giants’ 53-man roster practiced.
Tight end Theo Johnson (shoulder), offensive lineman Bryan Hudson (knee), defensive lineman Shelby Harris (Achilles) and offensive tackle Andrew Thomas (knee) were also full participants.
The Giants kept wide receiver Darius Slayton on their initial 53-player roster, but released him on Monday. He was the team’s longest-tenured player, arriving in 2018 as a fifth-round pick.
John Harbaugh was asked about the move Wednesday in the coach’s first availability since the roster move.
“We always make all of our personnel decisions about what’s best for the team immediately and in the long-term future, what gives us the best chance to be the best team we can be, and that’s the choice we made,” Harbaugh said, via video from Ralph Vacchiano of Fox Sports.
Slayton was due $13 million this season, with $9.5 million guaranteed. The Giants saved only $3.161 million by cutting him.
Harbaugh was asked why the Giants waited until Monday to release Slayton.
“There’s no strategy to it,” Harbaugh said. “There’s a lot of factors. I mean, maybe you can get a trade? Maybe you try to wait as long as you can to see if you can work out a contract change. There are a lot of reasons to it, which I don’t really feel obligated to explain. . . . We did it because it’s the best thing for our team.”
Slayton, who has already had teams reach out with interest, finishes seven seasons in New York with 296 catches for 4,435 yards and 22 touchdowns.
The Giants released longtime starting wideout Darius Slayton this week and they released a depth chart showing who is now on the first team on Tuesday.
Malik Nabers fills one of the spots and Darnell Mooney is listed next to him as the other starter. While many teams also list a third wideout or slot receiver among their starters, the Giants only went with a pair of wideouts on the first string.
Mooney signed with the Giants as a free agent this offseason and is listed ahead of Odell Beckham. Rookie Malachi Fields is behind Nabers and the Giants do not have any other receivers on their 53-man roster at present.
Braxton Berrios and Charlie Jones are among the wideouts on the practice squad and are listed on the depth chart as returners, so that group could grow once the Giants finalize their roster for Sunday night’s game against the Cowboys.
With former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick on the brink of releasing a new book, he’s been talking a little more than usual as part of the promotion. That has prompted others to have a few things to say, too.
One voice was somewhat unexpected. Giants coach John Harbaugh has spoken at length to Ian O’Connor of The Athletic regarding the Ravens’ interest in Kaepernick after he became a free agent in 2017.
With Kaepernick’s former 49ers coach, Jim Harbaugh, coaching at Michigan — and believing that a team could win “championships” with Kaepernick, John Harbaugh was very intrigued.
John Harbaugh also vividly remembered what happened in Super Bowl XLVII, when Baltimore barely held off a Kaepernick-led second-half comeback attempt.
“In that Super Bowl, he was really a nightmare to defend,” John Harbaugh told O’Connor.
The biggest complication at the time related to Kaepernick’s weekly protests in 2016, which sparked a broader wave of players taking a stand by not standing during the national anthem. And a significant public backlash from a sizable chunk of NFL fans.
“In all honesty, that wasn’t a factor,” John Harbaugh told O’Connor. “Yeah, there was conversation that there’s going to be a certain percentage of the fanbase that’s not going to appreciate this, but we decided that wasn’t going to be our driving factor.”
For the Ravens, who still had Super Bowl XLVII MVP Joe Flacco under contract, the attraction to Kaepernick was undeniable.
“His talent, and also the fact I had inside information as to who he was from my brother,” John Harbaugh told O’Connor. “We talked a lot about him, and I’d met Kap many times, had numerous conversations with him because of that. We talked about it at length as an organization, and we liked the fit. . . . The bottom line is your quarterback has to make plays for you, and Colin Kaepernick proved he could do that.”
The potential signing of Kaepernick became derailed for reasons that still remain fuzzy. His girlfriend, Nessa Diab, posted an image of franchise legend Ray Lewis and team owner Steve Bisciotti, after reports emerged that Bisciotti resisted the notion of embracing Kaepernick. After that, the visit never happened.
Even if Kaepernick’s visit to Baltimore had happened, there would have been complications. Flacco was the starter. Kaepernick would have been the backup, with a contract reflecting his status. At the time, Kaepernick believed he should still be a starter; would he have accepted a secondary role?
If Kaepernick and the Ravens had joined forces, the ensuing butterfly effect could have resulted in the Ravens not trading back into the bottom of round one to acquire two-time MVP Lamar Jackson in April 2018. On that topic, Harbaugh said “we probably would’ve still drafted Lamar for the opportunity to have two guys like that.”
Still, no one knows what would have happened without knowing how Kaepernick would have performed. In 2017, the Ravens went 9-7 and missed the playoffs; Flacco was so-so. If Kaepernick had gotten a chance to play that year and if he had played well, who knows? He could have been the clear-cut No. 1 entering 2018, perhaps making them less inclined to draft Jackson.
The Giants released wide receiver Darius Slayton on Monday, making him a free agent. Slayton said in a social media post that he is “excited to see what’s next.”
Josina Anderson of Exhibit News Network reports that three teams already have reached out to Slayton’s representation for preliminary discussions. Anderson also mentioned the Colts as a potential destination, given Slayton’s relationship with quarterback Daniel Jones.
Slayton spent seven seasons in New York, the longest tenured Giants player before his release. He was a fifth-round pick of the Giants in 2019, four rounds after the team drafted Jones.
Slayton and Jones played together six seasons.
Slayton caught 37 passes for 538 yards and one touchdown last season.
Wide receiver Darius Slayton’s long run with the Giants came to an end on Monday.
The Giants released Slayton less than a week before the start of the regular season and just over a week after there were rumors that he could be let go ahead of the cut to 53 players, so the move didn’t come out of left field even though he was guaranteed $9.75 million this season. Having that money in the bank likely made it easier for Slayton to hear the news on Monday and his first response to it was filled with gratitude to the only NFL team he’s played for.
“Grateful for my time in NY. 7 years a Giant nothing but love for one of the most prestigious organizations in the NFL. Excited to see what’s next,” Slayton wrote on X.com.
The guaranteed money means that Slayton’s next stop will likely be for a minimum salary and that should expand the pool of potential suitors for a player who led the Giants in receiving yards in four of his first five seasons.
Darius Slayton recently said he didn’t pay attention to rumors that he was at risk of getting cut. Apparently he should have.
The Giants announced today that they are releasing Slayton.
The move comes as a surprise if only because of Slayton’s contract: Just last year, he signed a three-year, $36 million contract, and he is guaranteed $9.75 million this year. Cutting him only saves the Giants $2.5 million, but apparently they’re down enough on him that they thought that savings was worth sending him packing.
The Giants presumably tried to trade Slayton before cutting him and found that no one wanted to trade for that contract.
Slayton caught 37 passes for 538 yards and one touchdown last season, and he’s still good enough that some team will surely pick him up. Just not at anything close to what the Giants were paying him.
Sunday night’s game between the Giants and the Cowboys will provide a chance for Greg Newsome and George Pickens to renew their relationship.
The two men last faced off when Newsome was a Browns cornerback and Pickens was a Steelers wide receiver during the 2024 season. On a Hail Mary attempt at the end of a 24-19 Browns win in Week 12, Newsome and Pickens wrestled with each other and then continued their scuffle after the ball fell incomplete.
The physical interaction morphed into a battle of words, but Pickens missed the second game between the AFC North teams with a hamstring injury and the two players never met last season. They’ll be back on the same field this week and Newsome downplayed the idea of having unfinished business while acknowledging the history between the players adds to the matchup.
“I wouldn’t say that,” Newsome said, via Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News. “I would just say every receiver I go against there’s technically unfinished business. My job is to shut them out no matter what. Obviously I’ve had a lot of battles with him, so it’s gonna be a little more special. But my job is to shut them out.”
Newsome praised Pickens as being “great at the catch point” and also noted how good CeeDee Lamb is before adding that “I like our chances” of winning the game. That would be just the start to the John Harbaugh era that the Giants are looking for in Week 1.
The Giants are expected to make a veteran addition to their defensive line group ahead of their Week 1 game against the Cowboys.
Jeremy Fowler of ESPN reports that they plan to sign Dean Lowry to their practice squad. Once signed, Lowry would be available to be one of the two players elevated to the active roster on gamedays.
Lowry played for the Steelers the last two seasons, but did not play in 2025 due to a torn ACL and he was released as part of their final cuts this summer. He had five tackles and a sack in 12 games for the team in 2024 and has 271 tackles, 16.5 sacks, an interception, a forced fumble and five fumble recoveries in 132 career games for Pittsburgh, Minnesota and Green Bay.
The Giants overhauled their defensive line this offseason. Shelby Harris, DJ Reader, C.J. Okoye, and sixth-rounder Bobby Jamison-Travis are all in their first season with the club.
