Darius Slayton (WR, NYG) - Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Pickups

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ANALYSIS: Welcome to the Darius Slayton Show, folks. Now if you can, give me a better line than that Slayton just put up against Detroit in his Week 9 matchup: two receptions, 50 yards, two touchdowns. Uh oh, that’s producing when production is needed, isn’t it? It’s been a rollercoaster season for Slayton so far, it must be acknowledged, but this is not the first time he’s come out of the left field to put on a massive game. He is indeed a great addition in deeper leagues and a tremendous weekly “what-if” Flex.

Obviously, the Giants are a team led by Saquon Barkley and Evan Engram with a pinch of Golden Tate and a little of Sterling Shepard (when available) sprinkled in. But facing adversity in the shape of few opportunities, Slayton is smashing his chances. This past weekend he came back to his average usage rate (five targets) and his two catches for two scores put him in the scoreboard for the second time this season and helped him reach his best fantasy tally of the year with 19 points. He already had another two 10-plus points performances in Week 3 (11.2) and Week 5 (16.2).

For a fifth-round rookie, Slayton numbers aren’t bad. He’s been targeted 27 times this season and he has hauled in 16 passes for 267 yards and three scores. He’s averaging 9.9 yards per target and is a deep threat (16.5 aDOT) while he’s also been able to limit his mistakes (just three drops in his six games). Shepard was supposed to be back this week after clearing the concussion protocol but symptoms re-appeared and he was forced out. These injuries are thought to deal with and not clear at all in terms of returning time, so there is a chance Shepard keeps missing games and that can only mean more opportunities for Slayton. Although he is not a weekly starter, Slayton can really provide really high points if everything goes his way, so consider him a great Flex play in your deeper league if you can get him and are looking for boom/bust players with massive upside.