The career of wide receiver Kadarius Toney, the former 2021 first-round draft pick of the New York Giants, has not gone as planned.
Toney’s first two years in the NFL have been largely disappointing, marred by injuries and illnesses and highlighted by a blockbuster trade that sent him from the Giants to the Kansas City Chiefs in October for two draft picks.
That trade thrust Toney from the Giants’ dog house to the Chiefs’ wide receiver rotation as one of Patrick Mahomes’ weapons.
That means this week Toney is at the Super Bowl — and is more bewildered than ever. No one ever expected Toney to be in this situation, starting with him.
“It’s really breathtaking,” Toney said at Monday night’s media event in Arizona. “This is probably like the biggest thing I’ll ever be in. I’m just taking it all in right now.”
The Giants and Toney never meshed after they selected him 20th overall out of Florida in the 2021 NFL draft. He incurred injury after injury and contracted COVID-19 as a rookie. When the Giants blew up their front office last winter, the incoming general manager, Joe Schoen, was not as high on Toney and word was out that a trade was imminent.
That trade happened in October after Toney played in just two games thanks to a sore hamstring. He’s fared better in Kansas City but the little dings and bruises continue to keep him on the injury report every week.
“At the end of the day it wasn’t my decision,” Toney said of the trade. “I’m in a position where I’m just grateful to be here. God’s got a plan and I just stick to it, regardless. I don’t have any comments about [the trade], it is what it is. I don’t run the business side, I just play.”
Well, Giant fans will beg to differ on that last statement. The Giants have moved on. They will take the third- and sixth-round draft picks the Chiefs gave the in return for Toney and continue to build on their winning season.
