It was almost enough to make the Giants yearn for simpler times of a diva wide receiver fighting a kicking net.
Kenny Golladay erupted in the direction of quarterback Daniel Jones and offensive coordinator Jason Garrett during the final minutes of a 30-29 loss, which came on a final-play do-over by Washington. Hours later, Kadarius Toney posted a meme on Instagram that read, “I don’t be mad s–t just be lame to me fr,” and an unidentified source close to Toney was quoted by NJ Advance Media saying, “no use having a sports car and not driving it.”
The two premier playmakers added to the fold this season (ironically enough to fill the void that has existed ever since the Giants traded the former kicking-net “distraction” Odell Beckham Jr. in 2018) both caused headaches at the first sign of adversity. Or so it seemed.
But Dana Toney told The Post that nobody in his son’s inner circle is upset with the Giants over Kadarius’ role or limited playing time. He claimed to know for certain the anonymous quote was outdated and taken out of context, though he could not speak to the reason for the Instagram post.
“We just have to trust the process of the organization — and I’m not wavering from that,” Dana Toney said. “None of that other stuff is true. We enjoyed ourselves at the Meadowlands last Sunday, and I look forward to coming back. The Giants were beautiful toward us. Our team is going to be good.”
Shortly after Giants coach Joe Judge was pressed by the media about Toney’s criticism, the rookie receiver was back on social media.
“Y’all try to turn anything into something,” Toney wrote. “SMH [shaking my head] we good over here” Separately, Toney described the media as “clowns” and wrote “but I’m above dat ….Literally” along with video looking out of a plane window.
Toney wasn’t a receiving target on any of his 19 snaps in the loss and was seen on the sideline taking an earful from Judge and then standing away from teammates, seemingly sulking. He has two catches for negative two yards over the first two games of his NFL career.
“In terms of trying to gauge somebody’s emotions, I judge them based on their actions — and I’ve seen a guy that’s come to practice every day and the meetings and been attentive,” Judge said. “He’s worked hard on the field. He’s going to continue to improve as a player and build himself in as an intricate part of our offense.”
One year ago, veteran Golden Tate — the first attempt to replace Beckham — was suspended for a week by Judge after yelling “Throw me the damn ball!” at the Giants’ sideline and into the television cameras. Judge does not see an apples-to-apples comparison with Golladay.
“I talked to the players, talked to the coaches that were involved, and everyone has kind of dismissed everything in terms of there was no conflict,” Judge said. “It was more just emotions on the sideline, talking through situations. Our guys have good relationships. They work together. I don’t really see any issue with that right there.”
Jones and Sterling Shepard said after the game that Golladay was upset at the circumstances and wanted an opportunity to do more. Golladay and Toney were not made available to the media.
“During games, we’re all highly competitive people and games are a high-intensity, high-emotional environment,” receiver Darius Slayton said. “It’s nothing but passion for the game. There’s no ill will towards anybody in the room or ill will amongst us and the coaching staff. We’re just all out there trying to win.”
