Giants news, 10/18: Darius Slayton to debut as kick returner? More headlines

Good morning, New York Giants fans!

Darius Slayton could return kickoffs

With Corey Ballentine in the concussion protocol and not practicing this week, the Giants are in need of a new kickoff returner. Cody Latimer has experience doing it, but the Giants might turn to rookie speedster Darius Slayton.

Had Slayton, who never returned punts or kickoffs at Auburn, not gotten hurt in training camp there is a possibility he could have emerged as the team’s primary returner.

“We’ve been training him,” said special teams coach Thomas McGaughey. “He did a lot in the spring, and our plan was during the preseason to get him like all of the reps. It just didn’t work out, he got the hamstring and all of that stuff. He’s been catching punts and kicks everyday for the last three months. Just hopefully that work will pay off in the game. We’ve got Cody, we have some other guys, we’ve got Pep (Jabrill Peppers) back there. So, we’ve got options.”

Jabrill Peppers at linebacker

The Giants have at times been using defensive alignments featuring Jabrill Peppers at linebacker the past couple of weeks. With the way the Arizona Cardinals spread the field on offense, we could see a lot of it on Sunday.

“What it allows us to do is put another DB on the field,” said defensive coordinator James Bettcher. “I think just going back to what I believe, the more spread they get, the more space the game becomes, the more second level players you want to try and get on the field. I think Jabrill, we know he can do just about anything. It’s just us doing a good job managing the situations and the things we put him in so he can play fast and we don’t slow him down.”

Justin Pugh: “I still love New York”

Via the New York Post:

“It’s funny, when you look at it and you see the offensive line I came in with and after that first year they all were gone,’’ Pugh told The Post in a phone interview. “The Chris Snees, the David Diehls, the Kevin Booths, David Baas. It definitely was an older group and then we definitely weren’t prepared. We didn’t have enough guys at the offensive line position those following years and guys got thrown in, including myself.

“I wasn’t expected to be a starter day one and then I was thrown into that role at right tackle. You see what happened in New York. But I still love New York, I love the fans, there’s still a part of me in New York. I grew up in that city, so it’s definitely going to fun to come back. Gonna be all smiles on my part.’’

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