The Giants' Healthy Wide Receiver Depth Behind Malik Nabers Has No 2025 Track Record With the Team

The Giants enter Week 1 with three wide receivers on the active roster behind Malik Nabers who have standing on the depth chart: Malachi Fields, Darnell Mooney and Odell Beckham Jr. None of the three caught a pass for the Giants last season.

The team released Darius Slayton on Sept. 7 in a cap-and-fit move under new coach John Harbaugh. Slayton had already survived the initial round of roster cuts, but the rest of his $12.2 million salary was set to become fully guaranteed that Saturday as a vested veteran, and the Giants moved on instead, saving $3.16 million against this year's cap while taking on $12.75 million in dead money, according to SI.com. Calvin Austin III, who signed with the Giants as a free agent in March after five seasons with the Steelers, landed on season-ending injured reserve after tearing his ACL at an Aug. 27 practice — before the regular season started, meaning he never played a snap for New York. Jalin Hyatt and Braxton Berrios sit on the practice squad as the only depth behind the four wideouts on the active roster.

Mooney signed with the Giants this offseason after spending 2025 in Atlanta, where he caught 32 of 72 targets for 443 yards and a touchdown while playing about 71% of the Falcons' offensive snaps. Those numbers came with Atlanta; Mooney has no game snaps with the Giants.

Beckham signed with the Giants on June 1 after missing the 2025 season. Giants coach John Harbaugh said in late August, following the preseason, that Beckham had made the team on merit: "I think he has done enough to make an NFL roster, for sure. He's played well, and he's gotten better."

Fields is a rookie, drafted in the third round, with no NFL regular-season statistics. In his preseason opener against Minnesota, he caught all three of his targets for 34 yards and a touchdown. Offensive coordinator Matt Nagy pointed to that performance when discussing the wide receiver room after Austin's injury.

Slayton is the only one of the departed receivers who actually produced for the Giants in 2025. He played 81% of the offensive snaps and finished with 37 catches for 538 yards and a touchdown on 63 targets. Austin's stat line — 55 targets, 31 catches, 372 yards, three touchdowns, 53% of snaps — came with Pittsburgh in 2025. He signed with the Giants this offseason and has played zero games for the team.

Harbaugh described Austin's injury as a significant loss. "It's definitely impactful to our team because he was playing so well," he said. "He was doing a great job across the board, offense and special teams." Harbaugh added that he and Austin had been in close contact since the injury: "That's the biggest thing. He and I were texting last night and even more this morning, so I think he's in a better place now than he was yesterday. But it's going to be a long road back, but he'll get back."

Nagy called the loss real but pointed to the rest of the roster. "It would be a disservice to him if I said it wasn't a blow," he said. "I think the beautiful part of what Harbs has done with us as a staff and as a team, his message this whole time has been positivity of understanding that the next guy has got to step up and play." Neither Nagy nor Harbaugh has laid out specifics on how the Giants plan to redistribute the targets Slayton and Austin leave behind.

Nabers himself has not guaranteed he will play in Week 1. He is off the physically unable to perform list and practicing, working back from the torn ACL and meniscus he suffered on Sept. 28, 2025. Asked about his availability on Sept. 1, he said: "My mind is focused on playing the regular season, playing whenever that is and playing what team it is." He added: "I might look like I'm one hundred percent. I make everything look well. But when you're in your body and you're in it, you still have some things that you still got to work on." If Nabers is limited or sits, more of the offense runs through Fields, Mooney and Beckham.

Snap counts from the preseason finale against the Jets — Beckham 33, Slayton 33, Isaiah Hodgins 37, Dalen Cambre 37, Berrios 27 — predate both the Slayton release and Austin's injury; Slayton is no longer on the roster and Austin is on injured reserve.