The Giants are currently in a position not many expected after six weeks of football. Head coach Brian Daboll’s squad is 5-1 ahead of a Week 7 matchup with the Jacksonville Jaguars. The November 1st trade deadline is also on the horizon, and it seems like wide receiver Kadarius Toney could be available.
Toney, a first-round draft pick (20th overall) in the 2021 NFL Draft, has struggled to stay healthy since entering the league. He appeared in 10 games as a rookie and caught 39 of 57 targets for 421 yards and no touchdowns. This year has been particularly rough for the 23-year-old. He hasn’t appeared in a game for the Giants since Week 2 against the Carolina Panthers. Overall, Toney has just two receptions for zero yards and two rushes for 23 yards so far this season.
The former Florida Gator underwent minor knee surgery during the offseason but has been plagued by hamstring injuries thus far in 2022.
With the trade deadline approaching, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN is reporting that NFL teams are hopeful New York makes Toney available in a potential deal. Fowler also adds that teams wouldn’t be surprised if the Giants moved on from the young wideout.
The Giants’ receiver room looks quite bare these days, so why the heck would they think about trading one of them? Well, probably for a few reasons.
After looking at Toney’s tenure in East Rutherford so far, it’s easy to think he could use a change of scenery and a fresh start to get himself on track. Also, the Giants are 5-1 without any real contributions from him so far this year. So, the idea of getting some value for him right now could be another reason behind a potential desire to make a trade.
Lastly, we saw Wan’Dale Robinson return from his own injury to have an impact in Big Blue’s big 24-20 comeback win on Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens. In his first game since Week 1 at Tennessee, the rookie caught three passes off four targets for 37 yards and his first career touchdown catch.
If New York’s desire to deal Toney is legitimate, part of it is probably because they were encouraged by Robinson’s production on Sunday and plan to get him more involved.
It’s worth noting this is also not the first time Toney’s name has come up in the NFL trade rumor mill. Upon getting hired, general manager Joe Schoen had no intentions of making the wideout available, but then reports surfaced that New York was gauging interest around the league last spring.
This should be an interesting storyline to follow over the next couple of weeks. How the Giants utilize their healthy receivers in upcoming games may also give us a clue as to how they’d like to proceed with Toney.
Matt Musico can be reached at matt.musico@xlmedia.com and you can follow him on Twitter: @mmusico8.
