So far, this season isn’t going as fans would have hoped for New York Giants draft pick Kadarius Toney.
While it looked like the Giants were getting a good value after trading down to take the player, they’ve had more problems than production from Toney so far and that has led to some of the receiver’s frustrations going public. This comes after the second game of the season, when the Giants not only blew the game but also failed to make use of their first round rookie.
After two games gone by, Toney has negative receiving yards and had no targets or receptions at all in his second appearance. He was only on the field for 8% of the Giants’ offensive snaps in his first game and 28% of their snaps in the second game.
It’s understandable that he’s frustrated with his usage by the coaching staff so far, but from the looks of things, Toney isn’t the best at choosing how to express those feelings.
Specifically, Toney took to Instagram where he responded to the criticism of himself by calling the media clowns.
Kadarius Toney calls the media “clowns” on Instagram #Giants pic.twitter.com/n1cyxf5T3i
— Pat Leonard (@PLeonardNYDN) September 18, 2021
Is Kadarius Toney heading towards problems?
While not everyone is a fan of the media, most can agree that coming out and openly attacking them on social media isn’t a wise move for a player in a major market like New York. Toney is already a controversial figure among the fans for the turbulent start to his career, and picking up a reputation early on as a diva wide receiver wouldn’t help his case in that regard.
Furthermore, this seems like something that can only end badly for a player coached by Joe Judge, who preaches discipline. Golden Tate, after all, landed himself out the lineup for one game last season in part because of his Instagram activity.
With Toney being outspoken so far about both the team’s usage of him and the media and fan narratives about him, it may be realistic to expect more controversy this season. At least, if the Giants don’t quickly figure out how to use Toney’s skillset and quell the concerns that they drafted a player in the first round just to sit him for most of the game.