HEADLINES

Kadarius Toney

Giants Sign Kadarius Toney

June 3rd, 2021 at 1:26pm CST by Zachary Links

The Giants have inked first-round receiver Kadarius Toney, per a club announcement. The Florida product will earn $13.7MM on his four-year deal. Of course, as a first-round pick, the Giants will also hold a team option for a fifth season down the road.

The Giants were initially set to pick at No. 11, but they traded their way back to No. 20 to take Toney instead. The move continued the Giants streak of taking an offensive player in the first round – they’ve done so in each of the last five years.

After playing quarterback in high school, it took some time for Toney to find his role on Florida’s offense. He played in mostly a backup role through his first three seasons in college, but he finally had a breakout campaign in 2020. He finished out with 1,145 total yards from scrimmage and eleven touchdowns — mostly through the air, but also with a decent number of carries. With 70 grabs for 984 yards, he averaged an efficient 14.1 yards per catch. That caught the attention of evaluators everywhere, including GM Dave Gettleman.

Toney projects to be a slot receiver in the NFL, but his Swiss Army Knife profile offers him an even greater upside. He’ll have time to learn, too, given the presence of newcomer Kenny Golladay plus John Ross, Darius Slayton, Sterling Shepard, and Dante Pettis.

AFC Draft Notes: Browns, Jaguars, Broncos

May 2nd, 2021 at 6:55pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

Notre Dame linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah had one of the most surprising tumbles of the draft. Widely expected to be a first-rounder, he ended up falling to the Browns with the 52nd overall pick after Cleveland traded up to get him. Apparently, the Browns almost pulled the trigger a round earlier. Cleveland mulled taking him with their first-rounder, the 26th overall pick. “He was definitely under consideration,” exec Paul DePodesta said, via Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon-Journal.

“We certainly didn’t expect him to be there when he was, but we’re fortunate that he was,” GM Andrew Berry added. “There was a lot of pacing going on upstairs once we got to about pick 42, 43, 44, just trying to figure out if there was a way we could make it happen,” DePodesta explained of the trade up. The Browns needed linebacker help, so it was the perfect situation. Not only was Owusu-Koramoah the ACC Defensive Player of the Year last season, he was also a unanimous All-American.

Here’s more fallout from this weekend’s draft in the AFC:

  • The Jaguars reunited Trevor Lawrence with his college running back by drafting Travis Etienne 25th overall, but it sounds like they would’ve preferred someone else. On Friday head coach Urban Meyer said there was a player who “broke our heart” that they couldn’t draft, and on Saturday he revealed who that was. The team was hoping to pick Florida receiver Kadarius Toney, Meyer said, via John Shipley of Jaguar Report (Twitter link). It’s rare for a coach or GM to openly say something like that, so they must’ve really wanted him. Meyer called the Florida star a “human highlight reel,” and highlighted his relationship with current Gators coach Dan Mullen as to how he’d gotten close to Toney. Unfortunately for Meyer, the Giants nabbed Toney at 20th overall.
  • The Broncos drafted a small school prospect a lot of fans were high on when they took Quinn Meinerz from Wisconsin-Whitewater in the third-round. Meinerz played guard in college, but it looks like Denver is going to switch him to the pivot for pro development. Meinerz will start out playing center, head coach Vic Fangio said, via Mike Klis of Denver 9 News (Twitter link). As Klis points out, he’ll be behind 2020 third-rounder Lloyd Cushenberry on the depth chart.