The Pittsburgh Steelers still need a lot of help in the wide receiver room. It's likely that the team will spend a first or second round draft selection on one of the top receivers on Thursday night during the 2022 NFL Draft. But there are reports coming out of New York that the Giants are trying to move on from 2021 first round draft pick Kadarius Toney already.
SI.com
Pat Leonard from the New York Daily News says that the Giants are making calls to other NFL teams to see what they could possibly get in a trade for the receiver.
Like most players that get involved with trade rumors Toney seemed to speak out against the report last night.
“If you believe everything on the internet you gullable [sic],” Toney posted on his Instagram story Friday night, with a cartoon of Jerry the mouse (from Tom and Jerry) pointing and laughing.
Last season Toney had a ton of injuries, and COVID-19 issues that caused him to miss several games. The Giants also began to question his commitment to football after he wasn't able to learn the offense, and had poor meeting behaviors. Now Toney hasn't reported to voluntary off-season work outs either. Which isn't a huge deal, because it's voluntary, but for someone who had so many issues in 2021 you'd think he would want to show up and put in the work in front of teammates and coaches.
A look at what Kadarius Toney can do with the ball in his hands. pic.twitter.com/5jpBsWpcai
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) April 22, 2022
Now after covering all of his issues why would the Steelers want to add a player with such issues to their team? Well the answer is Mike Tomlin. He's been able to keep a lot of the Steelers problem child's under control for many years. Most recently Antonio Brown. While he finally went off the rail after the 2018 season, Tomlin kept him in check for many years.
Toney wouldn't be a huge risk in terms of salary. He's on his rookie contract for at least three more years with a 5th year option available. That would be huge considering the money that teams are throwing at receivers lately. The talent is there. If you watched the clip up above from Field Yates it's apparent. He can do it all with the ball in his hands. As a senior at Florida Toney had 70 receptions for 984 yards and 10 touchdowns.
This is what NFL.com had to say about him heading into the draft last season:
Slot talent who competes like a player bigger than his listed size. Toney has battled injuries, which helped cap his production until the 2020 season, when it finally clicked for the entire offense. His routes can look like one-on-one isolation basketball moves at times, but he has the ability to make instant cuts and break his routes off sharply. He could become a much more creative and consistent route runner in due time. He's an atypical NFL slot in some ways and is likely to do his best work in a scheme that allows him plenty of run-after-catch opportunities. He'll need more polish but should contribute right away as a receiver and punt returner.
While with the Steelers Tomlin has been able to develop some players that have had maturity issues. That seems to be the case for Toney. Now Tomlin has also failed in some cases, like Le'Veon Bell. But it would probably be more correct to put the blame on Bell's agent for giving him horrible information during his contract disput with the team.
Most recently Tomlin had given Dwayne Haskins a second chance after he was thrown away by Washington. While it's unclear if Haskins' would've been able to turn his career around, we know that Tomlin helped him grow as a person. The maturity issues he had in Washington didn't come out with the Steelers. He was a solid teammate, and it's very sad that he lost his life before we could see the complete transition.
It's unclear what the cost would be to acquire Toney, but it could be lower than anyone might expect. It's possible that they want a second round pick in return for him, but if there isn't any takers teams could possibly steal him away for a third round pick.
