The moment Joe Schoen was appointed general manager and Brian Daboll became coach, the entire team has been in place. Giants, their mantra has been “smart, tough and dependable” regarding the type of players they want in their program.
With this in mind, Thursday’s trade of wide receiver Kadarius ToneyTo the Chiefs shouldn’t be viewed as a surprise. Toney fell far short of the “dependable” standard.
Go Deeper
Chiefs trade Giants’ WR Kadarius toney
Toney was plagued by injuries during his rookie season. He was part of a dysfunctional regime desperate to make it work. Toney got a fresh start after Joe Judge, the former coach and GM, was fired.
He responded by skipping the first three weeks of the Giants’ voluntary offseason program. This was not a good first impression.
Toney was the subject of trade rumors. Schoen had been engaging in public semantics, but the Giants were open and willing to trade the dynamic 23 year-old. But nothing materialized, and Toney suddenly decided to attend the team’s voluntary workouts. After having reportedly had knee surgery, Toney spent the spring at the sidelines.
Training camp offered another chance to get a fresh start. Toney showed his talent in camp and the coaches tried to build a relationship with him by playing one his rap songs during warmups at one practice.
The good vibes didn’t last long, however. Toney suffered a right hamstring injury during camp’s second week. He didn’t appear in any preseason games but was ready for Week 1. He took seven snaps, then injured his hamstring again during practice. He missed the following two games after missing 28 snaps during Week 2. He was nearing a return when he injured his left hamstring in practice leading up to the Giants’ Week 5 game against the Packers. The injury left him out of three games and there were no signs that he was going to make a comeback.
Toney leaves this season with only two catches and 0 yards in his two games. He didn’t score a touchdown in two seasons. His time with the Giants will be more remembered for his time on the sideline than the field. He played in only 12 of the 24 games with them.
It was a bad omen when he couldn’t complete his first practice with the team at last year’s rookie minicamp because he had ill-fitting cleats. During his rookie season, he was injured with an ankle, quad, oblique and thumb injury.
Despite Toney’s hard work on game days, there were still concerns about Toney’s dedication to the team. Toney was wired differently, down to the tweet he sent after the trade in which he said he wasn’t injured.
Schoen had to probably swallow hard to send Toney in Kansas City because of his potential talents in that offense. Schoen had to make the best decision for the Giants. Whatever Toney does with the change of scenery is out of Schoen’s control.
Kadarius toney and the Chiefs offense😮@0fficialC2N | @Chiefs pic.twitter.com/qiFwrAtjga
— NFL (@NFL) October 27, 2022
Schoen was able to control the outcome of a player with no future. Toney’s third- and sixth-round selections are a good score considering the league executive this week predicted that Toney might not produce more than a fifth rounder.
The third-round pick is the compensatory pick the Chiefs received after Ryan Poles was hired as the Bears’ general manager this offseason, so it will land around the 100th selection. The Giants have now nine picks in 2023 NFL Draft. They also have projected sixth-, seventh-round compensatory picks.
Schoen has been adamant about building a draft capital war chest. He has also kept a long-term focus since his first day. Schoen could use the additional picks to fill in any gaps on his roster or to buy ammo for next spring’s quarterback trade.
The Toney trade likely does little to change the Giants’ short-term outlook. Though it’s possible they’ll pursue a Young receiver with many years of experienceLike he is still bound to his contract Denver’s Jerry JeudyThe most likely outcome is Schoen won’t look into the future to support the 6-1 Giants.
Go Deeper
Trade deadline: Giants in unfamiliar territory: Should they become buyers, sellers, or remain neutral?
This trade does not have any salary-cap implications. The Giants will save about $700,000 from Toney’s $1.3 million salary for the rest of this season. The majority of these savings will go towards filling Toney’s roster spot.
The Giants will eat $3.7 million in dead money in 2023 from the remaining proration from Toney’s $7.3 million signing bonus. They’ll save his $1.9 million salary in 2023 and $2.5 million in 2024.
For 12 games, the Giants spent $8.6million. That’s a terrible return on their first-round investment. But Schoen didn’t make that investment. So he cut his losses from a past mistake with an eye on helping the Giants’ future.
(Photo: Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images).
