Jabrill Peppers is out for the season after being hurt in last Sunday’s game, meaning the Giants are down one more kick returner.
So who is the next man up?
“The guys that play in the game; we have Dante (Pettis), Darnay (Holmes), John Ross, we got some guys, so we’re not completely dead yet,” special teams coach Thomas McGaughey said Thursday. “We have some options back there. We’ll keep working, and whoever is up, we’ll block for them and try to make a play.”
Ross will likely be doing mostly kick returns, McGaughey said, but he did mention another possible name on punt detail: Kadarius Toney.
“Depends on how KT is feeling, he could be back there,” McGaughey said. “You can’t draft a guy and say he’s got great ability, but you can’t put him on returns because he’s made out of glass. He’s a football player. He’s hard to bring down and he’s a threat, like the Tyreek Hills of the world; they have coaches up at night trying to figure out how to stop the threat.”
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But, given that Toney is banged up, the Giants have already lost C.J. Board and Peppers, and the wide receiver corps is thin, is putting Toney out there a risk?
“You’re probably asking the wrong person that, because you’re taking a risk when you step out in between those white lines,” McGaughey said. “They pay you to play football, but they don’t say you can only play a certain part. You’re paid to play the game, and we’re trying to win games, so we’re going to play the best players. In this game, you don’t know when the game-changing play will happen or who is going to make it; the game doesn’t care about that, we do, so we have to try to win games.”
McGaughey understands the notion, though, and will be smart about what happens.
“As a special teams coach, you want things to happen and play certain guys, but you have to manage the roster and be smart about it,” he said. “We see how dynamic 89 is with the ball in his hands, regardless of when he gets the ball in his hands. I’m sure Joe (Judge) feels the same way, but you have to be smart, make sure he’s healthy and the player is comfortable back there. We don’t force anyone to do anything, we want them to feel good.”
Toney was an electric return man in college, but as anyone can attest to, the pro game is a different animal – and McGaughey will truly know what KT is capable of once he gets in the flow.
“It’s like anything else – it’s one thing to catch balls of the JUGS machine or from Riley (Dixon) in practice, but it’s another to get in the game, see that ball under the lights, and be able to let your natural instincts kick in,” he said. “Once he starts to get game reps at it, it will be different, but you never know until you’re under the lights with real bullets flying.”
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