After a frustrating Thursday night game Sept. 30 and an ensuing social-media message in which he insinuated he had found his limited role in the Giants offense to be “lame,” receiver Kadarius Toney had a chat with his head coach.
“Whatever you put out there,” Joe Judge told him, “make sure you don’t have to explain, clarify or defend.”
The lesson was not learned.
Toney, the rookie first-round pick, left plenty to explain, clarify and defend in a Wednesday night tweet in which he attempted to contextualize the deadly crash involving former Raiders receiver Henry Ruggs III as merely a mistake people make.
Judge said he addressed Toney and the Giants as a whole about the car accident in which Las Vegas prosecutors say Ruggs, who they say had a blood-alcohol content twice Nevada’s legal limit, was driving more than 150 mph before rear-ending another car, killing the woman inside.
“I talked to Kadarius. It’s important that we understand how we articulate our words and put them out there,” Judge said after practice Thursday. “Ultimately, our prayers are with everybody. This is a situation no one wants to see happen to anybody. … While no one is in any way, shape or form dismissing the consequences at all, it’s horrible on both sides.”
Judge pointed out that Ruggs, a former Alabama star, has plenty of relationships across the league, which leads to players reaching for empathy rather than anger.
But Toney, who did not speak publicly Thursday, did not seem to express the same empathy for the victim in his widely criticized tweet.
“We young…..everybody make mistakes,” Toney wrote. “y’all lookin at the situation like ‘this or that’ kuz it ain’t y’all…having so much too say….he know he messed up don’t drag em for it……that’s goofy to me….just pray for the families involved.”
Judge said the 22-year-old Toney’s heart is in the right place and he is a “very intelligent person” who is coachable. There has been a lot that has had to be coached, though.
Toney’s outspokenness off the field has not cost him on the field in seven games this year, in which he has caught 27 passes for 343 yards and at times looked like the explosive threat the Giants need. But his emotion erupting on the field led to an ejection in Week 5, when he threw a punch at Dallas’ Damontae Kazee in a scuffle, removing himself from a game in which he had racked up 189 receiving yards.
Toney apologized after the game and took responsibility while adding that “everybody makes mistakes.”
Growing individuals learn from them. Judge said he appreciates that Toney is the type of person who is unapologetically himself and willing to speak up.
Sometimes that means he, intentionally or not, downplays a horrific incident that left a woman dead and Ruggs facing charges of driving under the influence of alcohol resulting in death and reckless driving.
“I have no questions about [Toney’s] character. I think it’s important people understand that — I talk about it all the time, I can deal with personalities,” Judge said of Toney, who was limited in practice with a thumb injury. “Now, that doesn’t mean at some point you don’t have to address something with somebody.
“He’s a young player, and we’ve got to continue to help this guy grow as a professional.”