Joe Judge says he spoke to Kadarius Toney after the Giants rookie wide receiver received backlash about a Henry Ruggs-related tweet, adding that he believes Toney’s heart was in the right place.
The 22-year-old Ruggs is facing a felony charge after crashing his Chevrolet Corvette into a Toyota RAV4 outside Las Vegas, killing the passenger. The Raider wide receiver’s blood alcohol content was twice the legal limit and his highest speed was 156 miles per hour before the accident, which took place early Tuesday morning.
Here’s Toney’s full tweet from Wednesday night:
Judge touched on the situation while dealing with COVID-19-related issues with his club.
“I have spoke to Kadarius. I spoke to the entire team on this issue,” Judge explained. “Look, I will say the one thing that’s unique about this situation with Henry is the amount of relationships he has throughout this league. Whether you’re from the state of Alabama and know him from playing through high school, competing against him. You were a teammate of his at Alabama, which a significant amount of those guys are playing in the NFL.
“When I talk to my team about the situation, I’m looking at my guys’ eyes that it’s not a headline to them – it’s a friend of theirs, a teammate of theirs or something different. So I think the important thing is we express our prayers are with everybody involved in this. It’s a terrible thing to happen.
“I’ve talked to Kadarius and it’s important how we articulate our words and put it out there. Ultimately, our prayers are with everybody.”
Judge went a step further to talk about Toney as a player and person since he’s joined the team, and he only has positive things to say about the first-rounder. He also believes his heart was in the right place with his tweet.
How he worded it, though, is why he’s catching flack.
“Kadarius is a very intelligent person,” he said. “Every time we’ve had a talk, he fully understands we’ve been in good place with that. In terms of what he tweeted out, I know where his heart was with that. I think sometimes it comes across that obviously you read it and say, ‘OK, this doesn’t really sound the right way.’ Think it’s more about making sure we articulate our words. I know he included it in there, we talked as a team about how our prayers should be with everyone involved and that’s the truth. That’s what I believe and that’s what I expressed to the team.
“In terms of his growth, one thing I’ll tell you right now: KT is a good kid. I shouldn’t call him a kid, he’s not a kid. He’s a good dude. He really is. He’s got a good heart. He’s a hard worker, he’s a team-first guy.”