Five games into the season — with rookie receiver Darius Slayton healthy and active only for the past three — the Giants’ fifth-round pick in this year’s draft started showing what he’s capable of in Sunday’s 28-10 loss to the Vikings at MetLife.

Slayton posted a team-high 62 yards on four receptions — including a clutch, 35-yard touchdown from fellow rookie Daniel Jones to keep the Giants in the game in the second quarter.

“Since the day he got here, he has made steady improvements,” coach Pat Shurmur said of Slayton. “He was obviously a really good player in college and we drafted him for a reason. He came here and ironically the first practice, he couldn’t catch a cold. So we were like, ‘Holy smokes, were we looking at the right guy?’

“From practice 2 on, he has made steady improvements and those types of plays are not surprising for me to see based on what I’ve seen from him.”

It was a painfully slow start for the 6-foot-1 Auburn product, who struggled with groin and hamstring issues throughout training camp and was sidelined for the season’s first two games. He played in the Giants’ second-to-last preseason game against the Bengals, but didn’t see the field again until Week 3 in Tampa Bay as he continued to nurse injuries.

Since then, Slayton has collected 157 yards on 11 receptions and can now add a touchdown to his NFL résumé.

“Just getting more comfortable,” Slayton said. “Coach has had a lot of confidence in me since [minicamp] until now. I just kind of feed off of that, feed off of my teammates and it’s enabled me to make plays.”

Slayton went into hyper-drive on a second-and-8 play Sunday to reach the end zone and catch a perfectly placed throw from Jones. Aldrick Rosas secured the extra point to allow the Giants to close in 10-7.

“I was just excited, you know?” Slayton said. “Sometimes when you have a chance to score but it’s not always [for] sure, the ball could go to so many people, but I saw the ball in the air and I was just trying to run as fast as I could to make the play.”

Fellow receiver Golden Tate — who was making his season debut following a four-game PED suspension — made sure to retrieve the ball for the rookie.

In the third quarter, Jones connected with Slayton again for a 12-yard gain to set the Giants up at their 48-yard line. He also managed to draw a penalty on cornerback Xavier Rhodes on the play. The drive resulted in a 32-yard field goal to pull the Giants within 18-10.

The emergence of Slayton as a threat would be ideal for the Giants, who are losing running back after running back with Saquon Barkley sidelined for the second straight game and Wayne Gallman exiting in the first quarter Sunday with a concussion.

If he can avoid the injury bug, there just might be more to see.

“I’m getting back into it, I’m feeling really good now,” he said. “Hopefully I’ll be able to continue this [type of] play for the rest of the season.”