NY Giants writer names Kadarius Toney as fantasy breakout candidate

This time last offseason, NY Giants fans were setting high expectations for the offense. While the coaching staff didn’t inspire confidence, Saquon Barkley was coming back from an injury-plagued 2020, the team had just signed Kenny Golladay and drafted Kadarius Toney in the first round, and Evan Engram was expected to show out in a contract year.

When the dust settled, the offense never got off the ground.

The offensive line didn’t help matters, but Barkley averaged a lousy 3.7 yards per carry, Golladay didn’t even catch a touchdown, Toney was slowed by injuries and COVID-19 and Engram’s struggles with drops reared their ugly head.

The hope is the arrival of Brian Daboll will help spark the offense, which ranked 31st in both points and yards per game in 2021.

From a fantasy football perspective, it goes without saying managers aren’t itching to draft any Giants playmakers. Barkley will likely get drafted high due to his raw talent and expected volume. Other than that, though, it’s slim pickings.

With no other obvious choice, Giants writer Dan Duggan of The Athletic named Toney as the team’s fantasy breakout candidate.

Is NY Giants WR Kadarius Toney going to be a fantasy star this year?

Here’s what Duggan said of Toney’s fantasy potential.

"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."

Sounds about right, no?

Toney didn’t see the field much as a rookie, but he quickly established himself as one of the game’s shiftiest receivers. Capable of taking any reception – whether it be a bubble screen, a slant or a go route – for a touchdown, Toney could be a steal for fantasy manager’s depending on where he’s drafted. And chances are he falls pretty far based on his quarterback’s play.

Simply put, Toney is a YAC (yards after catch) monster and he should see significant volume in Brian Daboll’s new-look offense since the Giants don’t have many other mouths to feed outside of Golladay and Sterling Shepard.

Toney doesn’t have much touchdown upside after he failed to find the end zone in 10 games as a rookie, but he has the potential to be a league-winner in PPR leagues. For context, his 6.0 YAC per reception tied for eighth amongst receivers and was the same as Chris Godwin’s and Cooper Kupp’s; two fantasy superstars.

If Toney can stay on the field – and stay out of his own way off the field – there’s seemingly nothing stopping him from becoming the Giants’ breakout fantasy (and real-life) football star this season.

Kadarius Toney sounds thrilled about the new NY Giants offense

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