Kadarius is setting the . . . you get the idea.
It was a year ago that Kadarius Toney was flashing open-field ability and potentially cementing himself as a game-breaking talent for the Giants, even in limited action. Unfortunately, those flashes turned out to be just that — flashes.
Toney's tenure in New York came to an abrupt halt earlier this season when the Giants traded the beleaguered wide receiver to the Chiefs for a pair of low-round draft picks before the NFL trade deadline.
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It didn't take long for Toney to score his first touchdown with his new team (and his first in the NFL), hitting paydirt in just his second game with Kansas City. With the Chiefs' wide receiver room thinned by injury, Toney has an opportunity to take the No. 1 receiver job and live up to his reputation of being one of the best prospects in the 2021 NFL Draft.
He's off to a good start and, to his credit, seems ready for the next chapter.
"I feel like I'm right where I need to be," Toney said recently.
Here's why Kansas City was that destination.
Why did the Giants trade Kadarius Toney?
There were two main factors in the Giants moving on from Toney: his injuries and the regime that inherited him.
Injuries
Of a possible 24 games that Toney could have played for the Giants, he played in just 14 across two seasons after being drafted in the first round (20th overall) in 2021.
Toney dealt with more than a few injuries across those two seasons.
In 2021:
- A hamstring injury forced him to miss most of Giants training camp.
- He suffered an ankle injury in Week 5 but didn't miss the Week 6 game vs. the Rams. But then he aggravated the injury and missed a game.
- He missed four games with a quad injury.
- Upon his return from the quad injury, he missed another three games because of an oblique strain.
In 2022:
- He underwent offseason knee surgery but was ready for training camp.
- A nagging hamstring injury kept him out between Weeks 3 and 7.
All of that added up to a very painful Giants tenure, though the circumstances surrounding his most recent hamstring injury were murky. In a now-deleted tweet, Toney seemed to indicate that he was no longer dealing with an injury prior to his trade to the Chiefs.
In a tweet that followed, Toney added murkiness, rather than clarity:
Lmao Wrong Again ‼️ https://t.co/Xpj0pZpi8A
— Kadarius Toney (@0fficialC2N) October 28, 2022
Now, Toney has to continue to prove he's healthy this season. He may have made it a small point of mockery when he scored his first touchdown with the Chiefs:
IT'S TONEY TIME. pic.twitter.com/VaWS3WzyIr
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) November 13, 2022
Regime
Toney was the last first-round pick made by former Giants general manager Dave Gettleman, who retired ahead of a potential firing following the 2021 season.
Gettleman's tenure will go down as one of the worst in the NFL over the last decade, so, needless to say, new GM Joe Schoen and new coach Brian Daboll wanted to make their mark. Getting rid of Toney was a part of that.
It wasn't just a matter of roster building but also of usage in Daboll's offense. The coach made it clear earlier in the season that wide receiver position was an open competition, and Toney seemingly lagged behind, even in a thin room.
Daboll also made it clear that, maybe, Toney didn't give the Giants the "best chance" to win:
It’s a continual competition at receiver. I’ve said it since, when? I’m not being a jerk. I’ve said it since the middle of camp, right? It hasn’t changed. It’s going to be a continual competition.
Kadarius had opportunities today, and we’ll see what it is next week: maybe it’s (Darius) Slayton, maybe it’s more (Kenny Golladay). We’ll see where we go with that. But I think that position, we’re just going to keep on rolling guys and play the guys that week that we think would give us the best chance. And the other guys got to be ready as backups.
Had Toney stayed healthy (and if the new Giants regime actually liked him), it would have been interesting to see how he would have been utilized in the offense.
Now that he is healthy, the same question can be asked — only with Kansas City, instead.
