The New York Giants have an explosive, versatile new weapon in Florida’s Kadarius Toney, who went 20th overall in the 2021 NFL Draft after the Giants traded back from the 10th pick with the Chicago Bears.
Toney totaled 1,145 yards from scrimmage in his senior season for the Gators, which was more than the total yardage from his first three seasons combined. How did he gain those yards? In a number of ways — screens, end-arounds, underneath routes, and targets downfield were all part of his arsenal. That yards from scrimmage figure was tops on the team and one was of only eight in the SEC that surpassed the 1,000-yard mark.
Here’s the rest of the rundown on the electrifying Toney.
Measurables: 6'0"/190
School: Florida
2020 stats: 11 games, 70 receptions, 984 receiving yards, 14.1 yards per catch, 10 receiving touchdowns; 19 carries, 161 rushing yards and one touchdown
Accolades: 2020 First-Team All-SEC
Strengths:
- Not only fast in straight-line sense, but shifty and agile. Able to make defenders miss with quickness and ability to stop on a dime.
- Makes defenders miss in short-catch situations and can go for a ton of YAC.
- Has high-level vision in the open field and knows when to bounce outside or keep it between the blocks.
- Slippery and bounces off tackles.
- Offenses can deploy him with a ton of creativity.
Weaknesses:
- Took him until his senior year to make a real statistical impact from scrimmage.
- Could be seen as a gadget player, without typical WR1 role or experience.
- Kyle Pitts’ presence may have opened up a whole lot for him.
- Had some dropped passes
- Battled injuries throughout college career
Expert scout analysis:
Lance Zierlein, NFL.com
- “...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.”
- “...is likely to do his best work in a scheme that allows him plenty of run-after-catch opportunities.”
- “Too much freestyling and wasted motion in and out of breaks.”
Jordan Reid, The Draft Network
- “...much more satisfying than his size indicates because he’s electric with or without the ball…”
- “...ceiling as a route-runner is a bit limited…”
Tape:
Player comparison: Curtis Samuel
Toney says that he modeled his game after Alvin Kamara, but I'm not going to go that far with my comparison... yet. However, in a similar vein, Curtis Samuel gets a lot of his yards in interesting, creative ways, be it end-arounds or screens. Samuel and Toney are both very quick and rely on that evasive ability — thanks to an assortment of jukes, breakaway speed, and slipperiness — to make defenders miss. Samuel can line up all over the field, but he’s best known for his ability to stretch the field horizontally and wreak havoc underneath, only to unleash in the YAC department.
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