Darius Slayton filed into the auditorium in the Giants’ headquarters with his teammates Monday morning as the players and coaches reunited following their three-day weekend. The wide receiver has attended dozens of meetings in that room in his six seasons with the team, and he expected this one to be like most of the others.
“I was thinking Dabs (coach Brian Daboll) was about to show an inspirational video,” Slayton said.
Slayton was correct about the inspiring video but had no idea he would be its star.
“I expected it to be a team highlight,” Slayton said. “Then he put on the video, and it was a couple of highlights of me. I was like, ‘Oh wait, this is just me.’ I didn’t know what it was. Then I started to see the different community things (Slayton is involved in). I thought, ‘I’m getting something.'”
Well, he got that part right. When Daboll stopped the tape, he announced that Slayton has been selected as the Giants’ 2024 Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee. He then presented Slayton with a trophy as his teammates commenced a long and loud applause.
Presented by Nationwide, the NFL Man of the Year Award is named for former Chicago Bears running back Walter Payton, a Pro Football Hall of Famer who died in 1999. The award recognizes an NFL player for outstanding community service activities off the field as well as excellence on the field.
Each of the 32 teams has a Man of the Year who is eligible to win the league award. Last year, Pittsburgh Steelers defensive tackle Cameron Heyward won the award. In 2016, Giants quarterback Eli Manning was named a co-winner – with Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald – of the Man of the Year Award. Manning is the only Giants player to receive the award in its 54-year history.
Saquon Barkley was the Giants’ nominee each of the previous two seasons.
“It’s hard to even put into words,” Slayton said of his reaction to learning he was the nominee. “It’s not something that I saw coming at all. Even as a kid, you see all these things the players do, and you never know. (Now retired tackle) Andrew Whitworth won (in 2021) and I remember he got up there and was telling a story about one of his last years in the league. He said a guy came up to him and (said), ‘I was one of those kids at the Boys and Girls Club and I made it big.’ To me, that’s the ultimate. There’s not really much you could do in your career, or anything, that would top that, having someone come up and say, ‘You inspired me and here I am.’ Even if it wasn’t the NFL, that would be the biggest accomplishment in the world.
