One of the biggest surprises of the New York Giants’ stunning comeback Week 1 win against the Tennessee Titans was the lack of use of 2021 first-round pick Kadarius Toney.
Toney has been the topic of controversy for the better part of his short NFL career. In fact, at one point early in 2022, there was trade speculation surrounding the 2021 first rounder. But any doubt of his spot on the team appeared to be squashed this offseason.
However, the snap count from Week 1 tells a different tale. Even with Toney recovering from offseason surgery, the decision still left people scratching their heads.
Head Coach Brian Daboll was asked about the usage of Kadarius Toney on Monday.
“Kadarius is working his way back. Those are the plays. We had more than just seven plays for him, but they weren’t called. And we’ll see what happens this week,” Daboll said. “The guys that were out there, we have confidence in. We have confidence in Kadarius. I think, again, 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.
“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. But Kadarius has done a good job of learning our stuff. I have no concerns about him knowing our information.”
Clearly there is still belief in Toney from his head coach going into the rest of the season, but he will have to earn his playing time.
The wide receiver unit is certainly an interesting one for the Giants. The spot in the rotation for Toney and 2021 big-money free agent acquisition Kenny Golladay are suspect, at best. With Wan’Dale Robinson out due to injury for most of the game, Saquon Barkley, Richie James and Sterling Shepard ate up the bulk of the targets.
Still, the talent of Toney and his big-play ability makes it questionable why he had not gotten more snaps on the field in Week 1. We will see how Toney’s usage evolves over the next few weeks along with the rest of the receivers.
