Giants Country

Giants Receiver Kadarius Toney Breaks Silence Regarding His Social Media Remarks

Giants first round draft pick Kadarius Toney clarified what was behind his viral social media remarks, also offering an olive branch of sorts to the New York media.

Patricia Traina

Giants Receiver Kadarius Toney Breaks Silence Regarding His Social Media Remarks
Giants Receiver Kadarius Toney Breaks Silence Regarding His Social Media Remarks /

Kadarius Toney's NFL career hasn't quite gotten off to the start that anyone with the team might have envisioned.

After starting training camp on the reserve/COVID-19 list, Toney, the 20th overall pick in this year's draft, ended up tweaking a hamstring when he began ramping things up following his recovery.

But through two games thus far, Toney has been targeted just twice--both times in the Week 1 loss to Denver. 

While he caught both passes, his yardage total is a very unimpressive minus-2 yards despite a slight increase in his snaps from five in Week 1 to 19 last week.

"Kadarius hasn’t played a lot of football for us, yet. He missed the spring. He missed most of training camp. He practiced about three days before the season started, so he’s a young player who’s learning," said offensive coordinator Jason Garrett.

"Receivers, it takes them a little time to transition into the NFL. We all know that. I would say, in general, college receivers when they’re coming into the NFL, there’s a whole repertoire of routes that they haven’t been exposed to, so he’s in that process. It’s not unique to him or to us, that’s just the nature of things."

Besides his play, Toney drew some unwanted attention to himself when he took to social media to express some frustration that initially was thought to be over his lack of snaps, saying, "I don’t be mad s–t just be lame to me.” 

Toney later clarified his initial comments were not related to anything going on with the Giants.

"I know a lot of stuff was misinterpreted by me talking about the Giants or whatever, but it had nothing to do with the Giants," Toney said before taking questions from reporters.

Toney didn't say what his comment was about, but he did offer an apology to the media regarding a follow-up social media post in which he referred to the media as "clowns."

"That’s not meant for everybody. The ones--they specifically know who I’m talking about because of the story that they want to make, want to create, stuff like that, they know exactly who I’m talking about. I apologize to the rest of you all who do a great job in what you all do. I’m going to leave it at that."

Toney declined to reveal who was the source of his comments.

"That's really a personal issue, a personal matter. I don't really want to address it like that. So, I mean, that's why I left it with what it was."  

Drama aside, the Giants are trying to figure out what they have in Toney that might fit into what they're looking to do. Toney, remember, is still relatively new to playing the receiver position after converting from quarterback.

Garrett believes that in time, Toney's full range of talents will come out and that the consistency that's thus far eluded the rookie will start to dissipate.

"The biggest thing with him is practicing day in and day out and developing some consistency," he said. "No fault of his--he’s just been hurt and been sick and has been dealing with some different things. 

"He’s done a good job here lately continuing to work in practice. He’s continued to develop the trust that coaches and quarterbacks have in him and just continue to grow. You said it, he played some more snaps in the game the other day. He did a good job with his work. He just has to keep doing that."

Toney was a new addition to the Giants' Week 3 injury report Thursday, listed as limited with an ankle ailment.

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Patricia Traina
PATRICIA TRAINA

Patricia Traina has covered the New York Giants for 30+ seasons, and her work has appeared in multiple media outlets, including The Athletic, Forbes, Bleacher Report, and the Sports Illustrated media group. As a credentialed New York Giants press corps member, Patricia has also covered five Super Bowls (three featuring the Giants), the annual NFL draft, and the NFL Scouting Combine. She is the author of The Big 50: The Men and Moments that Made the New York Giants. In addition to her work with New York Giants On SI, Patricia hosts the Locked On Giants podcast. Patricia is also a member of the Pro Football Writers of America and the Football Writers Association of America.

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