Kadarius Toney, Brian Daboll bond over rap text messages

INDIANAPOLIS – There hasn’t been a face-to-face meeting between Brian Daboll, the Giants’ new head coach, and Kadarius Toney, the team’s 2021 first-round draft player. There was a FaceTime connection and another form of communication.

“He sends me a few of his songs from time to time so I can give him a review on those, too,” Daboll said Tuesday at the NFL Scouting Combine.

Daboll has not publicly commented on the musical style of Toney, whom Yung Joka calls his rapper character. The next challenge is to get Toney to resonate on the court after a disappointing rookie year.

The Giants dropped and picked Toney out of Florida with a 20th overall pick last spring. In return they get very little. Toney participated and did not practice and often missing from the lineup with a variety of physical illnesses, plus two positive COVID-19 tests. In 10 games, he made just 39 hits from 470 yards, averaging just 10.8 yards per catch for a pass receiver known to be active with the ball in his hand. ta. He didn’t have any touch of the ball.

Of all the players on the list who could benefit from Daboll’s offensive approach, Toney could be high on the list.

Daboll said: “The guy is interesting to watch. “Fast, speed, the ability to create gameshe’s a guy we looked at when I was in Buffalo coming out of Florida, he did some really wild plays. ”

Daboll says he needs to get used to Toney, but he has no problem with Toney’s musical endeavors.

“When you take over a new job and I hope that’s the case for any of us, you get a clear list,” said Daboll. “Everyone is new, we are all starting from scratch here. And we will do this together. There will be certain expectations for the people in our building, one is a professional. Can you give me 1,000 different definitions of what it means to be a pro. Punctuality, hard work, all the things that we talk about. All these players and all the new coaches, myself included, it’s a clean slate. ”

Giant named in Brian Flores lawsuit against NFL, claims racism played a part in what Flores described as a “fake” interview for the position of head coach. When asked about that on Tuesday, GM Joe Schoen referred to the statement the Giants made after the lawsuit was filed.

“We interviewed six qualified, diverse candidates, and at the end of the day, we thought Brian Daboll was the best candidate for our situation,” says Schoen.

“I understand the question,” Daboll said. “Right now, it’s an ongoing legal process and I’ll just leave it at that. ”

Daboll’s intention was to retain Patrick Graham as defensive coordinator, but Graham was was hired to take on that role for the Raiders. Daboll then pivoted and hired Wink Martindale after interviewing several candidates.

“Look, I’ve been in this tournament for a long time so there’s a lot going on,” Daboll said. “I wish Pat and Pam, his wife, the best of luck and you just roll with the punches. He’s a great guy, a great coach and he’s going to do great there. ”