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Kenny Golladay owns poor first Giants season with Kadarius Toney an afterthought

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Kenny Golladay took accountability Friday for a disappointing first season with the Giants.

“To be honest, I would just say just not good enough on my part,” Golladay, 28, last spring’s big money free agent signing, said on a Zoom call. “Not saying I was playing terrible or anything, but I expect more. Just not good enough.”

Golladay has 34 catches for 499 yards and no touchdowns in 13 games entering Sunday’s finale between the Giants (4-12) and Washington (6-10) at MetLife Stadium. That’s far from what the Giants were expecting when they paid him $40 million in the spring, and he knows it.

But at least Golladay has played through a rib injury down the stretch. Rookie first-round pick Kadarius Toney’s season already is over.

Toney, 22, will sit for a sixth time in the Giants’ final seven games on Sunday, missing a second straight due to a shoulder injury he sustained Week 16 in Philadelphia.

His rookie season has been a rollercoaster of distractions and injuries, with a fleeting flash of brilliant production in Week 5 at Dallas (10 catches, 189 yards). But that didn’t last because he threw a punch and got thrown out.

The Giants traded back in last April’s draft from the No. 11 pick and took Toney No. 20 overall out of Florida. They acquired an extra 2022 first-round pick from the Chicago Bears but passed on prospects like Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons and Chargers left tackle Rashawn Slater.

Toney missed ample practice and game time from May through December due to a laundry list of injuries: two positive tests for Covid, a hamstring, ankle, thumb, quad, oblique and shoulder. There was also his toe or foot issue in OTas when he wore the wrong-sized cleats.

His 420 receiving yards (on 39 catches) still rank second on this horrendously inept offense. But the bigger question is whether Toney has learned how to be a professional. Word around the Giants is he has a long way to go.

“I think he’s working on that,” wide receivers coach Tyke Tolbert said Thursday.

Toney hasn’t spoken to the media since Nov. 10.

A hamstring injury cost Golladay a ton of time in training camp, meanwhile, and had him playing catch-up early on, too.

Golladay was an early critic of Jason Garrett’s anyway. He was caught shouting at the offensive coordinator on the sideline in Week 2 at Washington.

He had his best game, six catches for 116 yards, in a Week 4 overtime win in New Orleans, but hyperextended his knee the next week in Dallas and didn’t play again until Week 9.

Joe Judge and Freddie Kitchens put more emphasis on involving Golladay after Garrett’s midseason firing, but that didn’t produce results, especially because Daniel Jones got hurt and the Giants didn’t have a single capable QB option behind him.

“A lot goes into it,” Golladay said of his down season. “Different personnel, as far as who’s playing and who’s not playing, including myself. Even in the personnel as far as coaching-wise. A lot goes into it. A lot goes into it to make a football team go.”

The Giants obviously will be counting on Golladay to have a much improved 2022 season on an offense that is expected to see significant turnover – from the majority of its coaching staff to some primary personnel (read: four new starting O-linemen).

As for Toney, the veteran Golladay said the receiver has been “dealing with a lot.”

“I was a third-rounder, he was a first-rounder, so he already had high expectations,” Golladay said. “I would just say stay the course. You’re going to have an offseason this year … just focus on trying to learn his body more and just stay the course.”

Tolbert added of Toney: “You have to do the best you can to be able to maintain your body whether it’s nutrition, whether it’s being with the trainers, whether it’s massages, whatever. Just do whatever you can to make sure your body is in the best possible condition to go out there and play.”

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Toney, WR John Ross (knee) and QB Mike Glennon (left wrist) all were ruled out of Sunday’s game. Three players are questionable: G Will Hernandez (ankle), FB Cullen Gillaspia (knee) and WR Collin Johnson (hamstring). Hernandez has played 100% of the offense’s snaps this season. He’s the only Giant on either side of the ball with a clean sheet so far.

The Giants’ practice wasn’t open to the media on Friday, since the snow pushed interviews virtual in the event the team might practice indoors. Judge got the back field plowed, though, so he could get his team out in the elements.

“They’ve plowed out the snow for us,” Judge said. “It looks like there’s still a little bit of residue out there. We’ll be out there playing in the snow today.”

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