Joe Judge has no questions about Giants rookie Kadarius Toney's character
Joe Judge talked with Kadarius Toney about his use of social media. Credit: Mike Stobe
Joe Judge had to have another talk with Kadarius Toney about the way the young wide receiver presents his thoughts to the world on social media, but he insists the first-round pick’s personality is not at odds with the team’s philosophies.
"He’s a good dude," Judge said on Thursday. "He really is and he’s got a good heart. This guy’s a hard worker and a team-first guy… I have no questions about this guy’s character."
The latest reason for people to think otherwise came Wednesday night when Toney Tweeted about Raiders wide receiver Henry Ruggs III, who is facing felony DUI charges after he was involved in a fatal high-speed crash earlier this week. Toney wrote: "We young . . . everybody make mistakes … 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."
The backlash toward Toney for seeming to defend Ruggs was strong and immediate.
"I know where his heart was with that." Judge said. "I think sometimes it comes across that obviously you read it and you say, ‘Okay, this doesn’t really sound the right way.’ I think it’s more about making sure we articulate our words."
Judge also noted that the last part of Toney’s Tweet came directly from his address to the entire team on the matter.
"The one thing that’s unique about this situation with Henry is the number of relationships he has throughout this league, whether you’re from the state of Alabama and you know him from playing through high school or you were a teammate of his at Alabama," Judge said. "When I talk to my team about the situation, I’m literally looking in guys’ eyes and it’s not a headline to them. It’s a friend of theirs, it’s a teammate of theirs, it’s something different. I think the important thing that we express is that our prayers are with everybody involved with this. It’s a terrible thing to happen."
Judge has had to talk with Toney about his social media postings in the past, most notably after the Week 2 loss in Washington when he was hardly used and later Tweeted something that hinted at dissatisfaction. Toney said that post had nothing to do with football and further said his strategy for avoiding misunderstandings would be to "go back to what I normally used to do and not post at all to give you [the media] nothing to really talk about." That policy clearly did not last long.
"When something comes up and I have to talk to a player, I talk to them," Judge said. "I address it. I don’t hide from issues. We don’t put our head in the sand around here. We take things head on and if a player needs to be corrected on the field or off the field, we do that. If there has to be discipline at some point, then we take discipline where it’s measured, but there’s a point of trying to appease the crowd sometimes with discipline. There’s a point of knowing what’s the actual point you’re going to get out of it."
In other words, Toney seems to have gotten off with a warning from Judge on this one. Or maybe a better word is a lesson.
"Kadarius is a very intelligent person and every time we’ve had a talk, he’s fully understanding and we’ve been in a good place with that," Judge said. "We’ve got to make sure we keep doing a good job, especially when it comes to social media, of making sure we articulate our point the right way, that we never have to clarify or defend it … When you understand the core of what someone’s trying to say and you talk to a guy and you understand the relationship and maybe he didn’t get the point across exactly, you understand he’s coming from the right place."
Notes & quotes: WRs Sterling Shepard (quad) and Dante Pettis (shoulder) missed practice for a second straight day and are likely to be ruled out for Sunday. LB Lorenzo Carter (ankle) and DB Nate Ebner (ankle) were also sidelined and will likely miss a second game in a row ... WR John Ross was added to the injury report with a quad issue. He was listed as limited … TE Kyle Rudolph did not practice to attend to a personal matter … Former Pro Bowl LB Benardrick McKinney was activated off the practice squad as a COVID-19 replacement. He’s had five tackles (three solo) in two games since signing to the practice squad on Oct. 19.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
