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INDIANAPOLIS – In the hours after Colts star receiver Alec Pierce went down with a reaggravation of his surgically-repaired heel injury, general manager Chris Ballard appeared to have a plan.
Darius Slayton was meant to be a band-aid. At 15.0 yards per catch across seven years, 106 NFL games and nearly 300 receptions, the ex-Giants receiver appeared to be the downfield option the passing game needed. That he arrived in Indianapolis with more than five years of experience catching passes from Colts starting quarterback Daniel Jones was merely a plus.
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Two weeks since he was signed, Slayton has participated in six practices (plus a walk-through in London) but he’s yet to make the gameday roster.
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Slayton told IndyStar on Wednesday that spending his first two weeks as a Colt on the sidelines wasn’t what he envisioned. It also, he said, was the right call.
“When I signed, I felt like I was ready to go and I’d be able to participate the first week I signed here,” Slayton said. “But at the same time, obviously, I got into practice that week, and (coach Shane Steichen) and everybody else felt like, ‘Hey, let’s give you more time.’
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“And I don’t disagree with that synopsis. At the end of the day, it’s been a good thing for me to have this extra time to acclimate.”
The Giants, who drafted Slayton in the fifth round in 2019 – four rounds after Jones – released the seven-year vet on Sept. 7, the Monday of Week 1 of the season. Slayton said he continued working out, hoping the phone would ring. It did when Pierce went down in the first quarter of Sunday Night Football on Sept. 20.
Less than 48 hours later, Slayton was in Indianapolis sitting with wide receivers coach Reggie Wayne.
Fitness, though, was his first hurdle.
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“I was at home and I was training, but it’s not quite the same as being on the field and having live bodies,” Slayton said. “I’ve just been working on getting my body in a place where I’ll be able to perform at my best.”
Does he believe he’s there yet?
“Definitely, I feel like I am. I feel like I’m ready to go at this point,” he said. “I feel like I can go out there and play good football and try to help this team win.”
Winning is something the Colts have, in fact, managed to do without Slayton twice since he arrived, though one might argue it’s been in spite of the offense. Jones has thrown an interception in each game while losing three combined fumbles – all of them on plays where pocket pressure was a central factor.
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All five turnovers, Jones and Steichen agree, sprout from the quarterback’s poor decisions or carelessness, but there’s reason to think the addition a field-stretching receiver could make an impact. Slayton should, theoretically, move the safeties farther away from the line of scrimmage and clear room over the middle Tyler Warren, Josh Downs and Keenan Allen.
The urgency for a player like Slayton to see the field is glaring but the 29-year-old admitted he wasn’t ready.
“It’s really just terminology. Every (team) kinda has the same stuff but people call it different names and the hardest part, really is situational,” he said. “You get in the game and if you gave me just base calls, I’d probably be okay.
“But we might get into a situation where we’re in hurry-up, or we might be in a two-minute drill. That’s the kind of stuff that takes a little longer to figure out. Once I got out on the practice field, I was like, ‘A little bit of extra time wouldn’t hurt.'”
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Joel A. Erickson and Nathan Brown cover the Colts all season. Get more coverage on IndyStarTV and with the Colts Insider newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Darius Slayton explains why he hasn’t play for the Colts yet and why he’s ready now
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