WR Slayton says Harbaugh is 'what we needed'

Darius Slayton was held out of spring ball due to a sports hernia surgery. So it's been a good to see the team's longest tenured player at practice this week catching passes without a problem or any limitations.

Saturday was his first time speaking with the media since January and he reminded quickly why he's one of the more thoughtful players in the locker room. A sampling of his quotes today.

On the changes in the wide receiver room adding Odell Beckham Jr., Juju Smith-Schuster and Braxton Berrios: "There's a lot of really good football players in our room now, and definitely from a competition-level standpoint, it's awesome. I mean, obviously I literally just missed Odell on the front end. He almost felt like a fake unicorn mythical creature that departed before I came."

Does John Harbaugh fit what Slayton was looking for as a Tom Coughlin-esque coach?: "I would say so...I feel like he's in that echelon, that elk. He obviously came from arguably one of the most old-school divisions in football...I definitely think he's what we needed. There's definitely been a sense of accountability off the rip, which has been huge for us."

Slayton also clarified his sports hernia surgery was on both legs and he played through it the whole last season. He didn't want to cut his season short with surgery so he just got through it.
"I'm not a big excuse person," Slayton said. "So, at the end of the day, I could have played better regardless, but obviously it's different when maybe you're used to being able to catch the ball a little easier. You're having to strain a little more and maybe come up an inch short here or there. But at the end of the day if you're out there, you've got to make it happen."

By Evan Barnes

evan.barnes@newsday.comevan_b

Evan Barnes covers the Giants for Newsday. He previously covered the Brooklyn Nets, Memphis football and the Memphis Grizzlies and also covered prep sports in Los Angeles.