National Football League

Giants give up on Kadarius Toney, still need game-changing receiver

Updated Oct. 27, 2022 5:25 p.m. ET

The Giants have lived for years by the mantra of: You don't give up on talent. It takes time to develop players. Good teams don't just throw young players away.

But when it came to Kadarius Toney, a first-round pick from the previous regime, this new Giants regime couldn't wait to give up on him — even though he has a talent they desperately need.

On Thursday afternoon, the Giants did what has seemed inevitable for months: They dumped the 23-year-old receiver, trading him to the Kansas City Chiefs for a third- and sixth-round picks. Though coach Brian Daboll shed no light on their reasoning — "We just made a decision that we thought was best for the team," he said — it's clear the Giants had grown tired of everything from Toney's attitude to his work ethic to his never-ending injuries. They seemed to know he was a bad fit for their new culture from the start.

And while the deal was generally a good one for an unwanted, unhealthy player who has zero career touchdowns and just two catches for zero yards this season, it's hard to immediately see this deal as a big win for the Giants. Because Toney, when he was briefly healthy last season, showed he can be an electric, dynamic, game-changing receiver.

And that's exactly what this Giants team needs.

That's why this can't be Giants GM Joe Schoen's only move. If he wasn't willing to wait to see if Toney could get healthy and help, then he has to go out and try to bring in someone who can. He has to be serious about this unexpected and rare opportunity the Giants have to not only make the playoffs, but maybe even make a postseason run.

And to do that, they're going to have to make a trade for a receiver. Lucky for them, there are a bunch of good ones on the market. According to multiple league sources, receivers like Denver's Jerry Jeudy, Houston's Brandin Cooks and Carolina's D.J. Moore could all be available. And the Giants have a particular interest in the 6-foot-1, 193-pound Jeudy, one league source said. Jeudy's even something of a known commodity to them since he was a freshman at Alabama in 2017 when Daboll was the offensive coordinator there.

Now, the Giants do have to be careful before making a run at Jeudy or any receiver. They aren't in position to do what the Buffalo Bills did in 2020, when Schoen was their assistant general manager and they traded four picks — including a first-rounder — for receiver Stefon Diggs. They are still a rebuilding team, despite their 6-1 record. They can't start mortgaging their future now.

But their 6-1 record is still real and so is their opportunity — which is huge for a franchise that has been to the playoffs once in the past 10 years. It doesn't matter that they didn't realistically expect to compete for a championship, or maybe even the playoffs, so quickly. They're here. And they have to at least try and seize the opportunity while they can.

And really, adding a receiver isn't as unaffordable as it might seem. The Giants only have $2.8 million in salary cap space right now, but thanks to Schoen's remarkable work so far they are projected to have more than $60 million cleared for the offseason, according to Overthecap.com. Granted, that's before they get to possible contracts or franchise tags for quarterback Daniel Jones or running back Saquon Barkley, but the point is they have some room to make a move.

That makes players like Moore and Cooks possible. Moore ($610,000) and Cooks ($690,000) don't have much remaining salary owed to them this season, but they both do have huge guaranteed salaries for 2023 ($19.9 million for Moore, $18 million for Cooks). But that's essentially the end of the guaranteed money on both of their deals, meaning it would only be a one-year commitment for the Giants. Plus, Schoen can always get creative and renegotiate or offer them long-term deals —something that makes more sense for the 25-year-old Moore than the 29-year-old Cooks.

Receivers like Jeudy or even Pittsburgh's Chase Claypool come with much less of a financial burden since they're both still on their rookie deals. But they're both going to cost a team premium draft picks that the Giants might not be willing to trade — if Claypool is even actually available at all.

Would it be worth it for the Giants to send the third-round pick they just got from the Chiefs to Denver for Jeudy? Absolutely. What if the price is higher, like a second-round pick or both of the Giants' thirds?

Only Schoen knows how bold he's willing to be. And he's going to have plenty of competition, with teams like the Packers, Eagles and Cowboys possibly shopping for receivers, too. But he has to try, because this remarkable Giants run just isn't sustainable with Darius Slayton, rookie Wan'Dale Robinson, Richie James, David Sills and Marcus Johnson as their receivers. The only thing that made that receiver group even remotely palatable was the thought that eventually, Toney and maybe even veteran Kenny Golladay would be healthy enough to help.

But Toney is now gone and Golladay would be if the Giants could get absolutely anything for him and his atrocious $72 million contract. The Chiefs were far more willing to take a chance on Toney, since they've already got a loaded, Super Bowl-ready offense and they could absorb the $5.2 million Toney is due over the next two-and-a-half seasons even if he never plays. Given the way the receiver market has exploded the past few seasons, Toney could eventually be a steal.

The Giants, though, decided that potential wasn't worth the wait. And that's fine. It was pretty apparent that things with Toney just weren't going to work out. And they ended up getting something for what they believed to be nothing, which is good.

But their larger problem still remains. Toney could have eventually been the solution, the spark that their passing attack needed. Now Schoen needs to do whatever he can to try and find that spark someplace else.

Ralph Vacchiano is the NFC East reporter for FOX Sports, covering the Washington Commanders, Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants. He spent the previous six years covering the Giants and Jets for SNY TV in New York, and before that, 16 years covering the Giants and the NFL for the New York Daily News. Follow him Twitter at @RalphVacchiano.