People continue to go back and forth over the big-time trade between the NY Giants and Kansas City Chiefs earlier this week. Kadarius Toney will no longer be donning a Big Blue jersey, but instead he’ll be hoping to help the Chiefs offense kick things into a new gear. Joe Schoen opened up plenty of eyes with this decision.
Was it the right call to give up on the former first-round pick and start fresh? Some fans think it was smart by Schoen to pull the plug, while others aren’t too happy that we’ll never be able to see Toney’s true potential with the Giants. At the end of the day, though, the first-year GM was correct in parting ways with the controversial speedster. Here’s why:
3. The two sides couldn’t get on the same page
From the moment Brian Daboll and Schoen arrived to East Rutherford, it felt like something strange was going on behind the scenes with Toney. Remember when he was a no-show for the first day of OTAs? That’s not exactly the right message you want to send your new head coach and GM.
Things then seemed alright between everyone, with Daboll saying that Toney was doing everything the club was asking him to. Then the injury bug once again hit Toney, with his hamstring giving him issues. Toney took to Twitter on Thursday to claim he’s healthy and ready to go. He then deleted that tweet.
According to ESPN insider Jordan Raanan, Toney wanted to play this weekend, but the staff had other ideas. A conversation was had on Wednesday, then a day later, he was no longer a Giant.
My understanding on Toney is that he thought his hamstring was good. The Giants wanted to play it cautiously after he already had a setback earlier this month. Makes sense with their bye next week. There was a convo Wednesday and he was traded Thursday.https://t.co/xxMqiuReCX
— Jordan Raanan (@JordanRaanan) October 27, 2022
Something tells us that conversation didn’t go too well and Daboll’s comments following the trade showcased a man who was sick of dealing with all of this drama. No one knows exactly what was said between Daboll, Toney and Schoen, but you can use your imagination in this case – it probably wasn’t a fun one.
2. Kadarius Toney couldn’t be trusted to consistently make plays
Injuries haunted Toney during his time at MetLife Stadium and that’s what he’s going to be best known for. All the injuries have contributed to him being yet another bust of a first-round pick by former GM Dave Gettleman. In two seasons with NY, Toney missed more games than he was able to suit up for.
Last year, he was out on the field for 10 contests. This year, he was only able to play in the first two games of the season, and he wasn’t heavily involved in the offensive game plan at all. This wasn’t the expectation for No. 89, as so many people had high hopes for him this fall and winter. His electric abilities were supposed to be on full display for 17 games.
Instead, he was on the sidelines watching the action following the Week 2 win over the Panthers. Daniel Jones and the offense as a whole needed to trust Toney to play a big role from start to finish this campaign. That obviously wasn’t the case, but it also hasn’t stopped Danny Dimes from leading the squad to a 6-1 record heading into this Sunday’s showdown with Seattle.
1. Giants got a nice return in the Kadarius Toney trade
With all the injury issues and the drama that has surrounded his name over the past year, who thought Schoen would be able to bring in a third-round pick AND a sixth-round pick for Toney? We sure didn’t and not many others did either. For the Chiefs, this is a high-risk, high-reward trade. They’re in strong need of a playmaker like Toney to help out Mahomes.
Meanwhile for the Giants, Schoen is building toward the future and he loves adding draft capital. New York absolutely crushed it in the 2022 NFL Draft, with tight end Daniel Bellinger, wideout Wan’Dale Robinson, pass-rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux and right tackle Evan Neal making plenty of noise as rookies.
Wow. Had a league exec tell me this week that getting a 5 for Toney was reasonable. Don’t have details on the conditions, but a 3 and a 6 for a player this regime obviously had no use for is a strong return https://t.co/XKtu6SiVLV
— Dan Duggan (@DDuggan21) October 27, 2022
Come next spring, Schoen will keep things moving in the right direction by adding more young talent from the college ranks. Everyone was rooting for Toney to have a strong, comeback season in 2022, but it just wasn’t in the cards.
The return NY got for his services was strong and Schoen deserves a lot of credit for making it happen. Yes, Giants fans will miss Toney’s big-play potential, but Schoen got something done for the right price. It was a smart move by him, no doubt.
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