New York Giants receiver Kadarius Toney experienced a rocky rookie campaign, but the talented wideout is ready to put that in the rearview mirror as the 2022 season approaches.
"I'm just hungry right now," he said Thursday, via NJ.com. "I've got a lot to prove to myself. I know what I want to get done. I don't really set goals or whatever, but I expect to do better than I did last year, I guess you could say."
Toney missed seven games in 2021, underwent a knee procedure early in the offseason that kept him out of spring practices, and has been dealing with an undisclosed leg injury during training camp that kept him out of preseason action.
But the 23-year-old said he expects to be on the field with Big Blue opens the season against the Tennessee Titans on Sept. 11.
"I'm ready to go," he said.
In 10 games as a rookie, Toney netted 39 catches for 420 yards and zero touchdowns. Most of that production came in a two-game stretch -- 78 in New Orleans and 189 yards in Dallas. Outside of the back-to-back explosion early in the season, he failed to surpass 40 yards in any contest.
Talent isn't a question with Toney. He's a racecar with the ball in his hands and can provide the Giants with explosive plays. But staying healthy has been an early-career bugaboo.
"Football is unpredictable, so you can't ever really say what's going to happen or what's not going to happen," he said. "You can get hurt running routes on air out there [in practice]. It's not really hard to get hurt. It's just all about taking care of your body, all about recovery. So I guess I'll just have to do a better job of doing that."
The former first-round pick of the previous regime has a chance to prove last season was a hiccup in his career, with Brian Daboll taking over now as head coach. But first, he'll need to stay healthy to have any chance of moving on from a tough rookie campaign.
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