Kadarius Toney’s social-media silence didn’t last long. He’s active on Instagram again and resuming his fondness for trolling former team the New York Giants.
Toney had a message or two after the Giants were shutout 40-0 by NFC East rivals the Dallas Cowboys in Week 1 of the 2023 NFL season. The wide receiver who was traded to the Kansas City Chiefs in 2022, told Giants’ fans “Na Don’t get quiet now….,” before adding a caption of Family Guy character Stewie beneath a caption reading, Giants fans last night.”
The Insta tirade ended with Toney revealing “&Now I’m back off this S***…… AGAIN…..leave me df alone but stay tuned,” per Ari Meirov of The 33rd Team.
Toney seemed to revel in the Giants’ misfortune on the heels of Big Blue fans taking pleasure in his disastrous opening-day showing for the Chiefs. The wideout selected 20th overall in the 2021 NFL draft endured a nightmare outing when the Chiefs were beaten 21-20 by the Detroit Lions.
As The Ringer’s Danny Heifetz put it, Toney’s horrific stat line “legit might go down as the worst performance any skill player has all season.”
Kadarius Toney finishing with one receiving yard, negative one rushing yards, four drops, and one of those drops leading to a pick-6 in a game KC lost by 1 point legit might go down as the worst performance any skill player has all season.
Naturally, many connected with the Giants couldn’t wait to let Toney hear all about it. After all, he’s rarely been shy about taking jabs at his old employers.
Giants’ Glee at Kadarius Toney’s Misfortune was Inevitable
Not only did Toney’s struggles hurt the Chiefs’ output on offense. His inability to get hold of the football also put points on the board for the Lions.
Toney deflected a catchable ball into the hands of Detroit safety Brian Branch, who promptly turned the theft into a pick-six.
BRIAN BRANCH PICK-SIX IN HIS FIRST NFL GAME
📺: #Kickoff2023 on NBC
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus t.co/EBLJ3Rwf5g
When the jokes and barbs from Giants fans came rolling in, Toney soon responded by closing his Twitter account and restricting comments on Instagram, according to Tyler Sullivan of CBS Sports.
Those actions didn’t prevent Toney from catching some heat from the man who kicked the Giants into two Super Bowls. Lawrence Tynes tweeted this message during the season opener: “Prayers up for Kadarius Toney’s mentions from Giants nation.”
Prayers up for Kadarius Toney’s mentions from Giants nation. 😱
Toney should have known the storm was coming. He made plenty of noise of his own after helping the Chiefs win last season’s Super Bowl.
The 24-year-old admitted “I love trolling” after flipping the Giants the bird with the finger adorned with his newly minted Super Bowl ring back in June. Later, Toney said he was hacked when social media posts in July contained a profanity-laden rant against some Giants fans and quarterback Daniel Jones.
While Toney felt comfortable to renew a back and forth with his critics, his latest words likely hit a nerve after the way the Giants were dominated by the Cowboys. The dominance extended to keeping the Pro Bowler acquired to replace Toney under wraps.
Giants Still Waiting to Win Toney Trade
Winning a trade is never easy, but things looked good for the Giants after Toney flopped against the Lions, but Darren Waller was available to face Dallas. The dynamic tight end had been a doubt because of a hamstring problem, but Waller answered the Giants’ hopes by taking the field at MetLife Stadium.
Unfortunately, Waller barely made a dent on the stat sheet, instead being limited to three catches for just 36 yards. Those weren’t the numbers the Giants were expecting when they traded the pick they got for Toney to the Las Vegas Raiders to acquire Waller earlier this offseason.
Waller’s supposed to be a roving mismatch who requires special attention from defenses, but the Cowboys were content to trust safety Jayron Kearse to handle the Giants’ primary weapon one on one, according to Pro Football Focus’ John Owning.
Per PFF charting, Kearse had 16 snaps in man coverage, many of which came against Darren Waller, and he wasn’t even targeted.
Kearse trolling Waller with the message “TE Stopper” summed up the heat the Giants have to take for falling flat in primetime against an old enemy. The Cowboys earned the right to take a jab or two, but Toney might be better saving his next comments for after he’s delivered on the field.
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Kadarius Toney Sends Giants Message After Shutout Loss to Cowboys