Kadarius Toney voiced his frustration on social media after Thursday night’s loss to the Washington Football Team — a game in which the 20th overall pick from this year’s draft saw zero targets on 19 snaps.
Toney shared a meme on his Instagram that read “I don’t be mad s–t just be lame to me fr,” after seeing his role on the offense go from small to even smaller despite the increase in snaps from five in Week 1. Toney did catch both of his targets last week against the Denver Broncos… for negative two yards.
That Instagram meme was originally posted back in December, so clearly Toney had to go out of his way and search for that one to share his feelings.
Toney took to Twitter Friday afternoon and responded to the reactions to his Instagram post:
In addition to his digital showing, Toney looked visibly irritated on the sideline during the game and had to have a talk with Joe Judge during the third quarter. He didn’t take the field again after that interaction.
Speaking Friday after the loss, Judge said he hadn’t seen Toney’s Instagram post and wouldn’t react to anything he hadn’t seen, but he praised the rookie’s work ethic so far in his early goings.
“In terms of KT, I see a guy that shows up every day and works hard,” Judge said. “So instead of trying to gauge somebody’s emotions, I judge them based on their actions and how they work. And I’ve seen a guy that’s come to practice every day and the meetings he’s been attending, he’s worked hard in the field.
“He’s going to continue to work hard as a player and build himself in as an integral part of our offense. …When the ball comes his way, we have faith he’ll have the ball in his hands and make a play.”
The Giants have an expensive Kenny Golladay, Sterling Shepard and Darius Slayton ahead of Toney on the depth chart, but that’s something the team already knew they’d have before moving back nine spots in the draft and taking him instead of another area of need.
Expectations for this Giants offense were at its highest since Daniel Jones was drafted, but despite putting up 29 points on this tough Washington defense and a great showing from Jones, the team is 0-2 to start in its fifth straight season.
There are other issues to point at — like the play of the defense and the lack of discipline all around — for Thursday’s loss, but the problems already bubbling up with this wide receiver group just two weeks into the season could certainly be up there with the rest of their problems at the top.
Toney is a rookie, so he’ll have to get his feelings in check before anyone else’s in this offense, but he does have a fair argument: Why draft a receiver in the Top 20 if you aren’t going to use him?
That’s a question for Judge, Jason Garrett, and Dave Gettleman to answer.