The disappointing 2023 season for New York Giants quarterback and captain, Daniel Jones, came to an end on Sunday when he suffered a torn ACL.
The injury leaves many questions about the future of the Giants’ quarterback just 10 months after leading the team to their first postseason victory in about a decade.
The loss of Jones will also have an impact on the locker room.
It’s well-documented that wide receiver Darius Slayton is an avid supporter of Jones and he feels the loss of the quarterback is devastating.
“It’s pretty disappointing,” Slayton told reporters on Monday. “You don’t ever want to see any of your teammates go down but for me personally, being here my whole career with DJ and kind of just the natural connection a receiver and quarterback have. Obviously, for me, I think it’s a bit personal.
“He’s a competitor, you know? Even though we didn’t know until this morning that he officially tore his ACL but those moments as a player, obviously, the thought goes through your head and the first emotion is devastation. We all work extremely hard to make the best out of the 17 opportunities we get every year to play the game we love and having that slip away is not easy for any of us to deal with. He’s a very resilient person, a very strong individual — but he’s also not alone in this. We’ll have his back, we’ll support him and be with him through this process.”
Slayton and Jones were, of course, both selected by the Giants in the 2019 NFL draft and have had a connection from the jump. In fact, Jones was the reason Slayton re-signed with Big Blue in the offseason as he expressed a desire to play his entire career with DJ.
Slayton knows some are happy that Jones is injured and his Giants career is now in doubt, but the wide receiver says that won’t slow either of them down.
“You can’t control what people say. Quite frankly, people have been trying to get myself and him and multiple others out of here since we’ve been here,” he said. “That hasn’t stopped us before and it won’t stop us now.
“Like I said earlier, he’s a resilient human being, he’s a good football player and at the end of the day, he’ll be back healthy again one day and he’ll be back playing pro football somewhere, hopefully here, and I look forward to that day.”
Time will tell what the future holds for Jones but until that decision is made (and even beyond), Slayton will have DJ’s back.
