Twenty-eight seconds. That was all the time Darius Slayton needed on Jan. 5 — Baggie Day in the NFL — to capture what the 4-13 New York Giants had to do to start chasing the glory days of Tom Coughlin and Eli Manning and all that ticker-tape bliss.
Facing a semicircle of reporters in the locker room, Slayton was asked what qualities he hoped to see in the person the Giants hired as their next head coach. The veteran receiver turned his head from left to right and stared into space for six seconds, hemming and hawing and exhaling as he measured what he wanted to say and whether he should say it.
“I don’t like to lie or to say things I don’t believe,” Slayton told The Athletic on Friday. “Obviously, I understand sometimes there’s a conflict of interest where I have to be professional while also being honest. So I took a moment to properly convey my thoughts in a manner as not to be inflammatory.”
You won’t find many NFL players more professional and thoughtful than Slayton, the seven-year player who stands with Dexter Lawrence as the longest-tenured Giants. But after playing for four losing head coaches who had arrived in New Jersey with either no experience on the job (Joe Judge, Brian Daboll, Mike Kafka) or no successful experience on the job (Pat Shurmur), Slayton delivered a response that should’ve been shouted to the heavens at a time when team officials were willing to consider yet another “ascending” coordinator/novice for the opening.
So who should the Giants hire, Mr. Slayton?
“Somebody that’s Tom Coughlin-esque,” he said that day. “I feel like he brought a lot of things to this organization. I think it’s no mistake why he won when he was here. (It) was his personality and the way he went about his business, and I think it takes a certain type of person to be a head coach in New York.
“It’s a tough job that obviously comes with a lot of scrutiny, but I think you need to have a certain disposition to get the job done effectively. And I feel like he probably embodies a lot of the qualities that we require now.”
Indeed, he does … or did.
During his first interview as head coach of the New York Football Giants — before he had even DocuSign-ed his contract Saturday — John Harbaugh told The Athletic that Coughlin was the most impactful ex-Giant he spoke with before agreeing to the five-year, $100 million-plus deal.
“He was a big part of this process for me,” Harbaugh said.
Coughlin saw in the former Ravens coach what he saw in himself as a first-year Giants coach in 2004 — a leader on the back nine of his professional prime who could eventually do special things with a young and talented quarterback, a stable ownership group and a storied big-city franchise in dire need of direction and discipline.
Slayton never played for Coughlin, but the Giants captain could see this one from a country mile away. And before you take that downward turn to the comments section to point out that Slayton had a rough season defined by painful drops after signing a three-year, $36 million deal, let me remind you that there aren’t many 29-year-old fifth-round picks who have 22 touchdowns to their name. Oh, and if you’ve ever played high school football as a slow receiver with a hamstring injury, you know that trying to play pro ball as a speed receiver with two hamstring injuries during a season of coach and quarterback changes is not easy.
Or fun.
Now Slayton has to impress yet another coach, Harbaugh, who says he plans to make the playoffs in 2026. Like many Giants who have suffered through some mind-numbing losing, Slayton appreciated Harbaugh’s willingness to put that expectation on the record.
2003 Giants:
– 4-12 record
– Hired a retread HC Tom Coughlin
– Drafted an Ole Miss QB (Eli Manning)
2025 Giants:
– 4-13 record
– Hired a retread HC John Harbaugh
– Pairing him with an Ole Miss QB (Jaxson Dart)
I know how the first story ended. Part 2? pic.twitter.com/VPNou7lm5R
— Anthony Rivardo (@Anthony_Rivardo) January 21, 2026
Now comes the hard part — trying to match that Coughlin-esque run shaped by Super Bowl victories over the Bill Belichick/Tom Brady Patriots in the 2007 and 2011 seasons.
“I definitely think (Harbaugh) fits the brand of coach/person I was referring to and thought we needed,” said Slayton, who has studied more than his share of Giants history. “The powers that be looked at the issues and came to the same conclusion.
“People like to say that history repeats itself. You think about New York, and especially nowadays with social media and the media in general, it’s a different place. It takes a certain brand of human to weather the storm and win here. … Bill Parcells was a man of conviction who had a process and a way of doing things. Tom Coughlin was cut from the same cloth. (New York) is a very easy place to get swayed by common opinion. It takes a certain person to rise above that.”
Harbaugh proved he could rise above all in Baltimore, where he won 13 postseason games, including a Super Bowl. When the 63-year-old Ravens coach took the job last Saturday, Slayton said, “I thought, ‘This is exactly what we need. This is the brand of coach I felt we needed to give us the best chance to be successful.’
“Parcells. Coughlin. Harbaugh. That person has a far better chance of succeeding in the New York market. … You have to make decisions based on football merit and your knowledge and not allow the court of public opinion to make those decisions.”
Slayton offered up a compelling example of what he was talking about. In 2010, Victor Cruz was signed by the Giants as an undrafted player out of UMass without a whole lot of size or speed, and yet he developed into a Super Bowl champ and Pro Bowler.
“Victor Cruz wouldn’t have existed in my time as a Giant,” Slayton said. “A free agent undrafted would’ve never gotten that opportunity, even if he showed himself to be proficient enough. … Tom Coughlin allowed his football-merited opinion and what he saw in practice and preseason games to make that decision, and we ended up getting an all-time great Giant.”
Slayton believes another Victor Cruz is possible again under Harbaugh. He said his teammates are excited about what’s to come, even though they realize the offseason program and the minicamps and training camp will be more challenging than normal.
The Giants are sick and tired of being sick and tired. “We’d much rather trade for harder practices and a harder camp and win,” Slayton said. “I think we’re all on the same page about that.”
The receiver said his quarterback, Jaxson Dart, will benefit greatly from Harbaugh’s structure. Over the long haul, Slayton said the new coach “will do wonders for Dart’s ability to win.”
A healthy Slayton expects to be part of that winning solution. And if the Giants do become contenders again, at last, it should be remembered that one of their captains took 28 seconds one day to explain exactly what the team needed.
And exactly what the team got.
