As the New York Giants get closer to the debut of their new offense under first-year head coach Brian Daboll, the team has several candidates for a breakout playmaker on that side of the ball.
The Giants player who seems to be getting the most hype heading into training camp, though, is second-year wide receiver Kadarius Toney.
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Chris Trapasso of CBS Sports recently highlighted Toney, while identifying five NFL players who were injured as rookies and are now poised for a “big” 2022 season.
Here’s what Trapasso wrote about Toney (emphasis added):
Toney is a dazzling yards-after-the-catch play waiting to happen. He was barely fully healthy as a rookie yet managed a bulky 6.0 YAC per reception average, which tied for the eighth-highest figure among all qualifying receivers in football. That 6.0 YAC per reception figure was the same as Chris Godwin’s and Cooper Kupp’s, of course, at a much different volume.
Being dynamic with the ball in his hands is not new behavior from Toney. That was his trademark at Florida. He’s a freaky athletic specimen, too. And the Giants can’t be infected by the injury bug as badly as they were in 2021, so opposing defenses will have a fair share of legit talent to scheme to stop outside of Toney.
The former first-round pick will be viewed as one of the NFL’s most dynamic gadget-type weapons after his second season.
Toney had a rocky rookie season, but he did have his moments in 2021. Trapasso mentioned Toney’s ability to make plays after the catch, which was on display during a Week 4 win over the New Orleans Saints.
Kadarius Toney 6 catches for 78 yards.
Yung Joka kan play! Use him!
As a rookie, Toney dealt with COVID-19 (twice), as well as injuries to his hamstring, ankle, thumb, quad, oblique and shoulder, per Empire Sports Media. He wrapped up his 2021 campaign with 39 receptions for 420 yards and zero touchdowns in 10 games played (four starts).
Although Toney is also coming off arthroscopic knee surgery, CBS Sports isn’t the only national outlet that’s high on him heading into Year 2.
Kadarius Toney Named Giants’ Top Fantasy Breakout Candidate
If you started Toney on your fantasy team last season, you probably won as many games as the Giants did. That could change this year, as Dan Duggan of The Athletic recently chose him as New York’s top fantasy breakout candidate for 2022.
Here’s what Duggan wrote about Toney for The Athletic:
This seems like an obvious answer on the surface. Toney had a monster two-game stretch early in his rookie season (16 catches for 267 yards) and is electric with the ball in his hands. If he stays healthy, his ceiling is extremely high. The problem is Toney totaled only 23 catches for 153 yards outside of that two-game explosion. A wide variety of injuries limited him to 10 games, and he has missed most of the spring due to knee surgery. So questions linger about Toney, but his upside makes him a strong breakout candidate.
That two-game stretch for Toney started in the aforementioned Saints game and bled into a loss to the Dallas Cowboys the following week. In that Cowboys game, Toney set season highs for targets (13), receptions (10) and receiving yards (189) while also producing the following highlight.
Kadarius Toney put the moves on Trevon Diggs 👀
The cornerback Toney put in a blender on this play is Trevon Diggs, who was a first-team All-Pro in 2021.
Kadarius Toney is a Fan of Giants’ New Offense
After struggling as a rookie under Joe Judge/Jason Garrett/Freddie Kitchens, Toney says the new offense under Brian Daboll is closer to what he experienced in college.
“[The offense is] kind of like Florida in the way you have leeway in route-running and stuff like that,” Toney said, per Giants.com. “You’re just able to win. You don’t have to run the pen-and-paper version of your route every time. A lot of offensive coaches have the pen-and-paper mentality like you have to run it exactly like that every time. But Dabes gives us a lot of freedom, a lot of leeway to win. That’s the object of playing football — to win. He just gives that option.”
Toney was a first-round draft pick in 2021, after racking up 1,145 yards from scrimmage (12.9 yards/touch) and 11 offensive touchdowns in his final season with the Florida Gators.
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Multiple Outlets Predict ‘Breakout’ Year for Giants Offensive Playmaker