Analyze Darius Slayton's matchup for week 10
Darius Slayton has averaged 4.5 targets and 44 yards over his last two games while playing nearly 90% of snaps, and Chicago’s bottom-ten WR scoring defense gives him a legitimate shot at 60-plus yards and his first TD of 2024, making him a viable boom-or-bust WR4/flex.
The Bears have coughed up 23.3 fantasy points per game to wideouts and ten WR touchdowns in seven weeks, and Slayton’s 22% target rate with Jaxson Dart is nearly four times what it was earlier in the year. With New York likely chasing points on the road, the game script should force enough down-field attempts for Slayton to threaten a season-high in receiving yards.
Back-to-back 4-plus target games, season-best snap share (89.5%), and a 22% target rate with the rookie QB signal a legitimate usage spike.
Darius Slayton’s fantasy stock is quietly climbing after two consecutive usable weeks. His 7-88 line on 12 targets the past two games is modest, but the context is everything: he’s finally the every-down outside weapon (89.5% of snaps in Week 9) and Jaxson Dart is looking his way on more than one in every five routes. That trust has translated to down-field opportunities—Slayton’s average depth of target remains tops among Giants—so the zero-TD streak (dating back to Week 16 of last year) feels more like an outlier than a death sentence against a secondary that’s already allowed ten scores to wide receivers.
Chicago’s defensive splits support the optimism. Outside of Jaylon Johnson locking up one side, the Bears play a heavy amount of zone and have rotated journeymen into the other boundary spot, yielding the 13th-most fantasy points to WRs. They’ve been especially charitable to vertical threats, giving up completions of 40-plus yards in four of their last five games. If the Giants’ makeshift line can buy Dart just a beat of time, Slayton’s 4.35 speed becomes an instant equalizer, and negative game-script should push New York to 35-plus attempts. Even a modest 15% share of that volume keeps Slayton’s 60-yard floor in play while preserving the spike-week ceiling that wins tournaments.
The counter-arguments are real—one 5-catch outing all year, red-zone usage siphoned to Wan’Dale Robinson, and an offense ranked 29th in pass success rate—so he’s not a set-and-forget option. Treat him as a volatile WR4 who needs the right matchup to crack starting lineups; this is that matchup. Bench him only if your roster is stacked with consistent top-36 wideouts, because his range of outcomes this week spans 2-80 yards and a score. In 12-team leagues or deeper, that upside is too cheap to leave on the bench when the opponent is this exploitable.