Rookie Giants receiver Darius Slayton catches up with Post columnist Steve Serby for some Q&A.

Q: Can you help Giants fans forget Odell Beckham Jr.?

A: I don’t think you ever forget a guy like that. Things he did here are really special. More so, just hopefully make them remember me as well, you know (laugh)? Make enough impact to where they remember me as well. That’s more so my focus.

Q: What impresses you most about Daniel Jones?

A: His poise. Being a rookie quarterback in the National Football League is probably one of the hardest jobs in America — especially playing for a franchise like this. It’s a very high-expectation, heavily-media-covered franchise, and he just stays poised. And he’s always Dan. Since the day I met him, he’s been the same guy, and so I really can appreciate that about him.

Q: What kind of a ball does he throw?

A: We kind of jokingly as receivers say his ball catches you, but there’s truth to that. Sometimes it’s like you’ve gotta really mess it up (chuckle) to drop one of his throws, you know? I think he throws a really catchable ball though, he has great touch.

Q: Tell me why this is meaningful to you: “A lion doesn’t concern himself with the thoughts of sheep.”

A: It was a Richard Sherman quote from a looong time ago back when he was playing in Seattle. Back when I first put it in my bio, it kind of meant something then, and I think it’s continued to, just because for me it’s always been, “Ah well, he’s an inconsistent pass catcher,” or, “We don’t know about his route-running,” these types of things as my career’s kind of went on. I don’t really worry about that stuff. I know what I can do and can’t do, so at the end of the day, you can’t worry about what people who are irrelevant have to say about you.

Q: Did anyone ever tell you you look like Spike Lee?

A: (Laugh) Russell Shepard is the only human being I’ve ever met that has made that comparison, and he just has stuck by it since.

Q: He calls you Spike?

A: Yeah. It’s whatever, he has a nickname for everybody. So that just so happened ended being mine.

Q: I don’t think you do, actually.

A: I don’t think I do either.

Q: Why do some of your teammates consider you a nerd?

A: (Laugh) ’Cause I don’t really do I guess typical football player stuff, per se, I guess. I’m more of just kind of a stay-at-home-play-video-games kind of guy when I’m not on the field. Again, another Russell Shepard kind of an instigated thing (chuckle).



Q: How does Russell Shepard know that?

A: Because you talk and things like that, and anytime anybody ever asks me: “I don’t really go out, honestly, I’ll just be at the house.” So naturally, me say something like that, people are like, “What do you do?” I was like, “I play video games.”

Q: Do you consider yourself a nerd?

A: I don’t consider myself a nerd, no (laugh). It’s just something to pass the time.

Q: You’ve also been described to me as an old soul in a young body. Do you see that?

A: Yeah. A lot of the older guys feel like I carry myself different than a lot of rookies they’ve been around, which I’m glad they have that impression of me.

Q: Is this good advice: Run like somebody’s trying to steal your books after school?

A: (Laugh) Yeah, I guess so.

Q: Why did you laugh when I said that?

A: (Laugh) I’m pretty sure that’s another Russell Shepard quote (laugh). Granted, I’ve never experienced that, but I’m sure if someone was trying to steal your books, you would run pretty fast.

Q: How did that begin?

A: Because I’m fast, and one time, we were watching film or something, and I was running some deep route or something like that, and he was like, “You’re like a nerd running after school, you know, somebody trying to steal your books.”

Q: You’ll be playing in Detroit one week from Sunday. So who is Big Play Slay?

A: (Laugh) Apparently, [Lions cornerback] Darius Slay. I’ve known who he is for a long time. Actually ironically, I was recruited by his college defensive back coach, ’cause a lot of schools wanted me to play defense in my initial recruitment, and he used to always tell me about Darius Slay, he’s like, “I coached Darius Slay, we were at Mississippi State,” and this was before Darius Slay was even like considered a top corner in the league: “I can coach Darius Slay and Darius Slay-ton,” he would always say. I’ve known about him for a long time, respect him and look forward to going up against him.



Q: How would you like to be called Big Play Slay?

A: It’s a fine nickname for me, you know? Whether people call me it or not, either way, hopefully I will make big plays (chuckle), so if it becomes a nickname, hopefully I live up to it.

Q: Describe your on-field mentality.

A: I’m already a competitive person, but I go into ultra-competitive. I just try to think I can do to win, anything I can do to help our team win.

Q: If I was covering you when you’re ultra-competitive, what would I see, or feel?

A: You’d feel a rush of speed coming at you. Obviously in the NFL, I haven’t played that long, so not that many people know that I am that fast, but hopefully after a few snaps I want — I hope what’s in the defender’s mind is, “This guy’s gonna run past me if I don’t get back.” Because it helps on the underneath routes and everything like that if they’re worried about getting beat deep, they’re not worried about a slant or a dig or something like that.

Q: Do you see yourself as more than a deep threat?

A: Oh, for sure. Like I said, the fact that being a deep threat helps set up the intermediate game, because if I take off people full speed, and people know that if they don’t take off running full speed and they’re about to give a touchdown, they’re gonna turn and run, and at that point I can stop on a dime and get in and out of the break.

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A: Probably my redshirt year of college [at Auburn], was a looong, hard year. That was the first time I’d ever not started or played or anything. I just was sitting on the sideline watching games. I hated every game, hated every moment of it. In hindsight, I learned a lot during that year, and part of that year is what is what drove me through the rest of my college year. It’s just kind of like a helpless feeling and that year we were 6-6, so it wasn’t a good year, so it was like, “I’m losing, and I can’t help stop the bleeding kind of thing.”

Q: What was the low point?

A: Probably during fall camp. Because when I first got to college I had [groin] surgery, so I was rehabbing, and I come back the second week of fall camp, and when I first got back for like that first month or two when I was back, I could play, but I wasn’t as fast as what I had always been. So it was kind of one of the first times I was ever playing with one hand behind my back so to speak, ’cause I didn’t really have my speed like I was used to. And it messed with me mentally, because obviously when you take away a big strength, your confidence is just kind of shot.

Q: Who is one cornerback in NFL history you wish you could have tested?

A: Probably Deion Sanders.

Q: How would you do?

A: When you talk about the greatest of all time, you can never be 100 percent sure how you’re gonna do, but I know for sure I would try my hardest (chuckle). Being a speed guy, taking pride in my speed, definitely him being considered one of the fastest football players ever, I would definitely just want to see how I stacked up against him.

Q: If you could pick the brain of any receiver in NFL history, who would it be?

A: Probably Randy Moss.

Q: What would you ask him?

A: Man, a whole bunch of questions. He was a great deep threat, and it was like his whole career it seemed like no one ever could stop him regardless of coverage and things like that. I want to ask him how did he beat guys, how did he get in and out of his breaks, being a longer strider guy like me, getting in and out of breaks is tough, so I have a bunch of questions.

Q: What was it like meeting Julio Jones as a kid?

A: This is just the crazy thing about life: When I met him, he was at a mall in Georgia, and I was in the car, and he was walking to the valet, and I jumped out of my car. … I remember (chuckle) ’cause one of my friends was driving. I said, “Slow the car down, it’s Julio!” He’s like, “No it’s not, no way.” I said, “I’m telling you, that’s Julio Jones.” He started slowing down, and before he came to a complete stop, I’d already jumped out of the car and I ran over there, I was like, “Yo, Julio, can I get a picture?” And he took the picture. Kind of both went our separate ways after that.

Q: How old were you?

A: I was a teenager, so I was probably about 14, maybe.

Q: Describe Saquon Barkley.

A: He’s just a freak athlete. Some of the stuff he does, it’s no other way to explain it. He’s just different.

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A: He plays very well at the lines, physical guy. Definitely looked forward to our matchups while we were in college.

Q: Rookie defensive end Dexter Lawrence.

A: A massive man.

Q: Why is children’s cancer a big cause for you?

A: Not so much children’s cancer but colon cancer. Probably my closest friend’s father passed a few years ago from colon cancer — Ralph David Abernathy IV. He’s like a brother to me. I remember the day his dad passed like vividly. I texted my dad. It borderline felt like my own father passed.

Q: What drives you?

A: Probably my family, and like I said earlier, desire to win.

Q: Why does your grandfather, Maze Stallworth, mean so much to you?

A: Because he’s just a pillar in our family. A lot of people look up to him. Even in the community my grandparents live in, everybody knows my grandfather, or at least if you say their name, my mother’s maiden last name, they know the name and it comes with respect. People always respect him, knew him as a hard-working man. And so I’ve always wanted to reflect those same type of things in myself.

Q: Alabama Area Agency on Aging was in honor of your grandparents after your grandfather’s dementia began.

A: He’s been battling with dementia for a couple of years now. It’s been more so on my mother and her siblings because they help my grandmother and that agency helps them with some of the stuff that he needs, like electrical wheelchair and different things of that nature. He’s a strong guy so, he’s been doing pretty well with it, but it’s been a battle these last few years. It’s strange at times because I’m used to him being up and things like that, but it’s not anything that’s devastating, I guess.

Q: Why does your mother mean so much to you?

A: There’s probably things I don’t even know of that she did, that I know she had to do to make some things happen. She knows the route and how badly I wanted to play just football, period, and play in the NFL, period. So she knows how this road has been, how big this is for me to even be here.

Q: Boyhood idol?

A: Michael Vick. Growing up in the metro Atlanta, he was The Guy playing for the Falcons, he was a superstar. That’s why I played quarterback first kind of half of my life, I wanted to be just like Michael Vick.

Q: When did you stop playing quarterback?

A: Eighth grade.



Q: How did you become a wide receiver?

A: It was a combination of wanting to be Vick and my dad also wanted me to play quarterback, so I’d have a better understanding of the game as a whole. Kind of as I got older, I liked the physical aspect of quarterback, but you’re in the huddle and two or three guys ask you questions and you gotta know what everybody’s doing. … I didn’t always like having to do all that.

Q: Did you like playing receiver when you started?

A: All I had to do is worry about basically two positions [X and Y] as opposed to 10, so I was like, “This is easy.”

Q: Was your three-touchdown game in the 2018 Music City Bowl your best Auburn moment?

A: For sure, my best statistical game.

Q: How about your best single Auburn moment?

A: Probably in 2017, we played Georgia at home, they were No. 1 ranked in the country. We were a two-loss team trying to still stay in the race, and I had a touchdown that kind of broke the game open, so to speak.

Q: Describe Auburn’s Final Four run in this year’s NCAA Tournament.

A: That was unbelievable. They brought great energy to Auburn. Auburn’s a special place, and when it’s like that, it’s a lot of fun to be around and cheer for them and things like that, so it was huge.

Q: Three dinner guests?

A: Michael Vick, Kobe Bryant, Beyoncé.

Q: Favorite movie?

A: “Fast and Furious.”

Q: Favorite actor?

A: Paul Walker.

Q: Favorite actress?

A: Brie Larson.

Q: Favorite meal?

A: Wings and Philly cheesteak.

Q: Two separate things?

A: But they’re together.

Q: What do you mean? How could they be together?

A: In Atlanta, we have a place called American Deli, and you go get five wings with a Philly cheesteak and fries.

Q: You still catch 300 balls a day after practice?

A: Another Russell Shepard thing (smile). I always caught JUGS anyway, but that kind of started with him. He had kind of said it and Sterling [Shepard] always catches and things like that, but one time, I’d been here for a little bit, maybe like a month or so, and he said, “You gotta chance to be great. I’m gonna make sure you’re great. You need to start catching 300 JUGS a day, every day.” I’ve always been the type of person to buy into things like that because hey, Sterling’s a $40 million dollar receiver, he’s a really, really good NFL receiver, and he does it still. I’m a fifth-round drafted receiver, you know? I gotta catch up.