Getty Travis Kelce is still baffled by this decision from the Giants.
Travis Kelce would say thank you to Joe Schoen if he could understand the New York Giants’ general manager’s recent actions. Kelce, the three-time All-Pro tight end of the Kansas City Chiefs, is still baffled Schoen willingly traded wide receiver Kadarius Toney.
The Giants flipped their first-round pick in 2021 for third and sixth-round picks in the 2023 NFL draft. Kelce thinks the Chiefs got a bargain by acquiring a player he called “crazy athletic” and a “great teammate.”
Toney received this lofty praise while Kelce was speaking on an edition of the New Heights podcast presented by Wave Sports and Entertainment, which he co-hosts with his brother, Philadelphia Eagles’ Pro-Bowl center Jason Kelce:
After watching Toney catch his first touchdown pass for the Chiefs in Week 10, Kelce expressed his shock the Giants made the trade: “I don’t know how he got out of that building. I just don’t get it. I don’t get it one bit. I don’t even want to understand it. I don’t even want to know what happened over there. I’m just extremely happy that Brett Veach found a way, yet again, to get an unbelievably talented player in this building.”
Kelce’s full-throated endorsement of Toney may have some fans wondering if he’s talking about the same player who never lived up to his billing with the Giants.
Toney a Different Player to the One Schoen Traded
Joining the Chiefs has been the spark Toney needed to finally show the talent that made him the 20th player selected over a year ago. He’s already justifying Kelce’s description: “Crazy athlete. Unbelievable player when he gets the ball in his hands, and obviously can run great routes.”
All of those things were on display when Toney made this circus catch during the 27-17 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars:
Watch Kadarius Toney readjust his gloves before high-pointing this catch. 👀
(h/t @ClayWendler)
Those same attributes were also what the Giants hoped they were getting when they traded back to acquire Toney. Then-general manager Dave Gettleman sent the 11th-overall selection to the Chicago Bears for the 20th selection, a fifth-rounder and first and fourth-round picks this year.
The deal looked worth it once Toney’s name was called, with the ex-Florida standout “compared to the receiver version of Alvin Kamara, defenders slide off him,” according to Around the NFL’s Kevin Patra.
Unfortunately fate had other ideas, ensuring the Giants only saw brief glimpses of Toney’s playmaking flair. Two stops on the Covid-19 reserve list halted the wideout’s progress as a rookie, along with a litany of injuries that included “hamstring, ankle, thumb, quad, oblique and shoulder” problems.
The injury bug was never far from Toney during his blink-and-you’d-miss-it stint with the Giants. He started just four games in his first year, before appearing in only two this season before the trade, with the Giants listing him as suffering from a hamstring injury.
Toney denied he was injured via a since-deleted tweet, per CBS Sports’ Jordan Dajani: “That Joke Would’ve Been Funny If I Was Actually Hurt Still Lol…..Irrelevant people don’t get updates.”
It was a sad and confusing end to a player-and-team relationship that never worked out for either party. Both sides share their portion of the blame, although the Giants can be accused of rarely taking full advantage of Toney’s skills while he was healthy.
Giants Failed Toney
The Giants were happy to deal Toney, despite his base salary for this year being just $784, 431, per Spotrac.com. Of course, Schoen didn’t draft Toney, while head coach Brian Daboll was left to try and salvage the situation after his predecessor Joe Judge had done little to unlock the player’s talents.
There was ample evidence for what Toney could do, like when he burned the Dallas Cowboys with 10 catches for 189 yards in Week 5 of his rookie season.
The numbers were good enough to help Toney shatter a franchise record:
The @Giants‘ Kadarius Toney (189 yards) broke Odell Beckham Jr’s record (185 yards) for most receiving yards in a game by a rookie!
Speed and elusiveness were Toney’s signature traits coming out of college and at least one of those qualities transferred over to the pros. He was able to consistently gain separation on his routes, even keeping pace with Cincinnati Bengals’ rookie sensation Ja’Marr Chase, according to PFF Fantasy Football:
Only rookie WRs to average 2+ receiving yards per route run last season
💥 Ja’Marr Chase – 2.4
💥 Kadarius Toney – 2.1
(📸 @Giants)
The Giants should have made more of Toney’s core attributes. A big part of their failure to do so can be laid at the feet of Judge and his offensive coordinator Jason Garrett.
Neither fully understood how to utilize somebody as versatile as Toney. A team needs to line him up at multiple spots across formations and have as many creative ways to get him the football.
Yet, for as much as Judge and Garrett failed Toney, so did Daboll and his OC, Mike Kafka. Daboll seemed like the perfect fit to revive Toney’s performances, along with Kafka, a former quarterbacks coach for the Chiefs.
Ultimately though, the pair gave up trying pretty quickly, with Toney having just three targets and two rushing attempts, per Pro Football Reference. This regime’s decision to cut bait and move on from Toney still ranks as a contentious one given the Giants’ lack of dynamism at the receiver position.
No wonder Kelce’s still in shock.