Kadarius Toney was “The Human Joystick” for several years at Florida but he was not yet an NFL prospect. The stop-start acceleration of a Star Wars speeder bike made him a highlight in waiting. It just didn’t make him consistent.
That changed during Toney’s senior season when he harnessed all that God-given ability and committed himself to becoming an every-down player. The payoff came Thursday when he was selected No. 20 overall by the New York Giants.
Toney’s senior year receiving totals — 70 catches, 984 yards and 10 touchdowns — easily outpaced his previous career output of 50 receptions, 606 yards and two scores. To be fair, some of that early development was delayed by Toney clinging to dreams of playing quarterback.
“Yeah, I reflect on it from time to time, more on the basis of how it really changed my life in a way,” he said. “Because I wouldn’t be here today probably if I didn’t make that (position) change, if I didn’t become a team player in that way. So I think about it, but it’s like I realize what it’s actually done for me — put me in a position to be successful.”
Getting the ball to Toney on handoffs and quick screens utilized his elusiveness, but challenging defenses downfield was something he emphasized in 2020. His route-running sharpened, making him unguardable on short crosses. He also torched Texas A&M (37 yards) and Alabama (51 yards) for touchdowns on go routes.
“If you watch him from one year to the next, you see the huge steps that he’s taken,” Florida coach Dan Mullen said. “I think he understands that now. Now he knows how to play the receiver position, and he knows now the steps he needed … to take a big jump forward this past year. He’s going to continue to do that. I think he’s just really scratching the surface right now of what he’s going to become as a receiver at the next level.”
Mullen was the Gators’ offensive coordinator during the Percy Harvin era, designing plays for another multi-dimensional player of Toney’s ilk. Harvin went 22nd in the 2009 draft. Other slot-receiver comparisons that make sense are Tavon Austin (selected No. 8 overall in 2013) and five-time Pro Bowler Tyreek Hill (who dropped to the fifth round in 2016 because of character concerns).
If there’s a boom-or-bust feel to Toney, it’s understandable based upon him having only one special year at Florida. But then, that special year was his most recent one, which shows his development is on an upward trajectory.
Toney was perturbed by one anonymous report of a team wondering whether music might distract him from football. He has released two albums under his rap moniker Yung Joka.
Toney deemed the scout’s comments “real disrespectful,” adding that music “is not my first priority. (Football) is what I was born to do.” He likened singing and rapping to a hobby of self-expression that helped him through college and could become a passion only after his NFL career is finished.
“Don’t try to slander my football skills because I’m just as good at music,” he said. “That’s dead wrong, that’s wrong.”
Dane Brugler on Kadarius Toney (No. 4 wide receiver, No. 28 overall prospect in The Beast)
A loose, elastic athlete, Toney routinely makes the first man miss with special start/stop twitch, frustrating would-be tacklers and creating explosive plays. Though he is an improved route runner, he remains a work in progress with his steps and tempo, and his freelancing will backfire at times. Overall, Toney is still more of a gadget player than a polished receiver (and his off-field and durability will be debated in war rooms), but he boasts the one-step burst, body balance and underrated toughness to be a big-play ignitor. He projects as a versatile NFL weapon on offense and special teams.
Top college highlight
For physics-defying agility, rewind to the 2019 game against Florida State. That’s when Toney took a jet sweep and shook the entire Seminoles defense with an Allen Iverson-style crossover, which led to a 47-yard gain.
Such an unbelievable exhibit against a hated rival couldn’t be matched, but Toney sure gave it a try with a couple of elusive plays in 2020. He punctuated a 57-yard touchdown catch against South Carolina by blasting through a crowd of five defenders. Then against Mizzou, he dodged four tackles on a quick screen touchdown that required replay to properly behold.
Media moment
Throughout his career, it was easier to tackle Toney than to interview him. During his senior year, while emerging as an All-American, he made himself available to reporters just once, following the SEC championship loss to Alabama. Thing is, he’s a gregarious guy who seems at ease with candidly handling questions. It’s just something he rarely chose to do in college.
Being media averse didn’t make him social media averse, however. While his teammates were getting smoked by Oklahoma 55-20 in the Cotton Bowl on Dec. 30, a game in which Florida’s top three receivers opted out, Toney tweeted:
“Don’t try to drag us kuz we handled business OUR way and not YALL’S”
While the tweet surpassed 1,300 likes, it generated plenty of blowback from those claiming Toney quit on a team. For the first time all season, Toney’s timing was off.
Coachspeak
Mullen claims to be a straight talker when NFL teams solicit intel regarding his players. He sees the pre-draft knocks on Toney are vanishing.
“He keeps really erasing every question people have about him everywhere he goes,” Mullen said. “OK, he’s a great athlete. If you put the ball in his hands, he’s a playmaker. Now he’s developed into a great wide receiver. He’s really quick, but is he that fast? I think he ran in the 4.3s (at pro day). He’s a guy that loves football and when you get around him, he’s just a great person to be around. So I think everywhere, every time there’s a question about him, he comes back and he answers it and he proves that he is elite and one of the top players in this year’s draft.”
Before last season’s Georgia-Florida matchup in Jacksonville, Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart put an emphasis on his defenders attacking Toney at the line of scrimmage.
“He was always good. Now, it’s like he’s a more polished receiver on top of the utility stuff,” Smart said. “He’s extremely hard to tackle. He’s got extreme one-step quickness and he plays powerful. When people hit him, he doesn’t go backwards. He’s physical in what he does.”
Toney was bottled up for 40 yards on 10 touches, one of only two games all season in which he didn’t produce a touchdown. But Florida won 44-28 because four other receivers scored touchdowns and three running backs repeatedly slipped behind Smart’s aggressive defense to net 212 yards receiving. Despite a quiet day individually, Toney converted a key third-and-9 catch for 21 yards in the fourth quarter by separating from NFL draft prospect Mark Webb on an option route.
“(Toney) made some unbelievable, spectacular plays,” said former Gators offensive coordinator Brian Johnson, who’s now with the Philadelphia Eagles. “He’s a nightmare in terms of his quickness, his agility, his ability to break tackles and his discipline as a route runner. He’s had some big-time plays and they might not have been crazy, highlight-reel, explosive plays. That third-down catch at the end of the game against Georgia is as big of a play as he’ll have all season.”
Superlative
Change-of-direction. Toney left would-be tacklers strewn all across SEC fields, and he’ll remain a threat for yards after the catch in the NFL. As he grows to understand leverage, he’ll be difficult to squeeze on jerk routes, and he could be situationally effective in short yardage by using motion to set up quick tosses to the edge. That shiftiness and 4.37 speed translate to the return game, potentially saving teams a roster spot.