Brian Daboll Reveals Reason Behind Kadarius Toney's Lack of Snaps

Why didn't Giants receiver Kadarius Toney get more snaps in the regular-season opener? Turns out there was a simple explanation.

 The Giants’ decision Sunday to minimize the deployment of wide receiver Kadarius Toney had nothing to do with the young man being in the coach’s doghouse or not knowing the playbook.

No, the seven snaps that the 20th overall pick in last year’s draft received in the game resulted from the large chunks of missed practice time and the receiver's inability to convince the coaches last week that he could translate his understanding of the playbook to the field.

“Kadarius is working his way back,” head coach Brian Daboll said, referencing the time Toney was forced to miss in the spring and summer due to a knee issue. During that time, receivers like Richie James, who received a whopping 42 (70 percent) of the snaps in the regular-season opener, often filled in with the first-string offense.

The Giants head coach also noted that the coaches had more than seven plays in last week’s game plan for Toney, but they weren’t called. He also stressed that it’s not a matter of Toney not knowing the playbook.

“Kadarius has done a good job of learning our stuff,” he said. “I have no concerns about him knowing our information.”

Knowing the information and being able to do it are two very different things. One might, for example, be able to locate, read and understand a recipe for a soufflé, but that doesn’t mean they will necessarily be able to execute it to the level of restaurant quality right away.

The same holds true with Daboll’s Giants, regardless of draft status or talent level, of which Toney trumps just about everyone else in the team’s receiver’s room.

And while one might make the same argument about Sterling Shepard, who missed nearly all of the team drills while on the PUP list over the summer yet who reeived43 snaps (second most behind Kenny Golladay), the difference, again, boils down to what happens on the field.

Shepard, a veteran who, when healthy, is as reliable as the day is long, earned his spot in the game plan, same as James, who was picked up this past off-season via free agency, and David Sills, who finally made the 53-man roster after a couple of unsuccessful attempts.

“I’ve mentioned this before a couple of weeks ago with our receiver position: It’s a competitive situation, and they’ll be evaluated on a week-to-week basis,” Daboll said. “So, relative to inactives or playtime or amount of plays, everybody’s got to earn their role. One week it might be a whole game; one week it might be less.”   

Daboll knows it’s a long season, and he’s not about to write Toney off just yet.

“We’ll see what happens this week. The guys that were out there, we have confidence in. We have confidence in Kadarius,” he said. 

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