The New York Giants cannot change the past — nor can anyone else — but it is natural to wonder what could have been.
33rd Team NFL analyst Marcus Mosher gave his best attempt at re-writing history on June 25, publishing a 2021 re-draft that offered a Kadarius Toney do-over in round one. Instead, the writer selected Kansas City Chiefs two-time Super Bowl champion guard Trey Smith at No. 20 overall.
“Trey Smith fell to the sixth round due to a medical issue,” Mosher reminded. “But in this re-draft, he goes at pick No. 20 to the New York Giants.”
“Smith is a mammoth offensive guard who has started a combined 60 games (including playoffs) for the Chiefs during the last three years,” the analyst went on. Concluding that “Smith would really help the Giants’ weak interior offensive line.”
Trey Smith Could Have Been Perfect Solution for Giants’ Offensive Line Woes
As Mosher noted, a prospect like Smith could have helped solve one of the Giants’ biggest issues over the past five to 10 years.
Granted, guards and centers don’t typically get drafted as high as offensive tackles, but Smith is one of the more consistent interior blockers in the entire league. Starting 50 regular season games for Kansas City over his first three campaigns, not to mention another 10 playoff outings.
According to Pro Football Focus, Smith is an all-around talent too. His run blocking has graded out slightly better than his pass protection during his NFL tenure, but not by much.
Smith has only been charged with nine sacks since entering the league, including the postseason. Since his rookie year, however, he’s only allowed four sacks on Patrick Mahomes II.
The one weaker area of the offensive lineman’s game seems to be penalties. In both 2021 and 2023, Smith has been flagged 11 times — plus another six penalties in 2022.
Despite that, there’s no doubt Smith would have been a much more useful pick than Toney, who was quickly traded for the draft capital that yielded tight end Darren Waller (now retired) and cornerback Tre Hawkins.
Alas, Smith landed with the Chiefs and the Giants are still searching for answers on the offensive line.
Ex-Giants WR Kadarius Toney Could Be Cut in 2024
As for Toney, the failed wide receiver prospect has not had much luck in KC either. Sure, Toney was a part of two Super Bowl winners — and he contributed during the first with a key punt return and a touchdown reception — but his personal performance with the Chiefs has been mostly poor.
And now the first rounder is facing a very tight roster cutdown in 2024.
Clutch Points writer Liam Hanley urged the Chiefs to release Toney back in February.
“Kansas City needs to upgrade its wide receivers, but first, it must remove the dead weight,” Hanley said at the time. “In 20 career games with the Chiefs, Kadarius Toney has just 41 catches for 340 yards. His miserable 6.3 yards per catch in 2023 would have put him among the worst in the league if he was eligible.”
“Drops were also an issue,” the writer continued, “as Toney dropped five of his 38 targets (second-worst drop percentage if eligible).”
Hanley later labeled Toney as the “primary scapegoat” for the Chiefs’ offensive struggles in 2023. He also called a Toney cut the “best” move for Kansas City despite the dead cap charge of approximately $2.53 million that KC would incur.
In June, that feels like a realistic possibility inside a crowded WR room.
“I just have Toney, [Skyy] Moore and [Justyn] Ross grouped together [in a roster battle],” Chiefs beat reporter Nick Jacobs (KSHB41) said during the “41 is the Mic” podcast on June 23. Although he did add that he thinks the Chiefs will give Toney “every chance to succeed” out of those three bubble candidates this summer.
What a fall from grace it would be if Toney was released before Week 1 after entering camp as KC’s expected WR1 a year ago.
