New York Giants Injury Update: What We Know Ahead of Week 10 Game

New York Giants wide receiver Darius Slayton was confirmed to have suffered a concussion in the Giants’ 27-22 Week 9 loss to the Washington Commanders.

Slayton, whose 469 receiving yards is second on the team behind rookie Malik Nabers’s 557, was injured late in the fourth quarter.

Head coach Brian Daboll confirmed that Slayton was in the protocol, adding that the receiver doesn’t necessarily have to be cleared ahead of the team’s Thursday night departure to Munich and that such a decision regarding whether Slayton will make the trip would depend on how close he is to clearing the protocol.

Receiver/punt returner Ihmir Smith-Marsette, who was also removed from the game late in the fourth quarter for evaluation of a head injury, checked out fine, Daboll confirmed.

Daboll was also asked about kicker Graham Gano and outside linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux, both of whom are on injured reserve but who are eligible to have their respective 21-day windows open.

Gano, who injured his hamstring in Week 2, is trending toward having his window open this week, Daboll said. The Giants placed veteran Greg Joseph, who had been filling in for Gano, on injured reserve last Friday after he strained his oblique muscle. 

Rookie Jude McAtamney handled the kicking duties for the Giants in their Week 9 game against Washington, McAtamney converting his lone PAT and his lone field goal (31 yards).

McAtamney, who in his final season at Rutgers was primarily a kickoff specialist, also sent four of his five kickoffs into the end zone for touchbacks, the lone kickoff return by Commanders Austin Ekeler going for 35 yards.

Thibodeaux, who is recovering from wrist surgery in which a small screw was placed into his wrist to help expedite the healing, is unlikely to have his window opened until after the team’s Week 11 bye. His original recovery time was put at 4-6 weeks, the six-week mark coming up after the team’s bye.

Daboll also said that punter Jamie Gillan, who has been dealing with a left hamstring strain but who was not placed on injured reserve, is getting closer to a return and could be ready this week to resume his punting duties for the team.