It isn’t too often that we see a guy like Kadarius Toney come around and be used properly. His quickness and speed is off the charts, but if not used properly he’s going to just turn into another gadget guy. He has such a diverse skill set and if utilized properly he’s going to be a deadly weapon for some team.

Strengths: 

  • Amazing Quickness and Change of Direction

In terms of quickness and change of direction ability I think Kadarius Toney might be the quickest in the class. He is just so agile and can change what direction he’s going on a dime, which makes him very tough to follow around the field.

  • Can Separate with Speed Alone

Kadarius Toney has enough straight line speed to separate from defenders just using his speed. He can run straight past defenders and he’s so explosive and accelerates so fast that it’s hard to stop him if a defensive back isn’t ready.

  • Great Run After Catch Ability

One Kadarius Toney gets the ball in his hands he has amazing vision and his quickness makes it tough to tackle him. This means he can get easy yardage for teams if they can just get the ball in his hands.

  • High Effort Player

Toney is sometimes pushed around by bigger blockers but it’s evident that Toney is a tryhard player. He puts a lot of effort into blocking and runs all his routes full speed even when he’s not the primary read.

  • Very Versatile Player

Kadarius Toney can be used in so many different ways. He is a great deep threat so he can be used over the top and if given the ball underneath his rac ability allows him to make something out of nothing. He can be used in the return game because of his great vision and quickness and for the same reason he can be given carries. He also played QB in high schools so he will be a weapon for teams attempting trick plays. 

  • Room to Grow with Massive Ceiling

Kadarius Toney didn’t begin to play the receiver position until college which shows just how high his ceiling is. Once he can refine his route running and hands which will happen with time and effort his ceiling is absolutely through the roof, and if teams are willing to give him time to develop he can be one of the best offensive weapons in the NFL.

Weaknesses: 

  • Small Size

The biggest knock on Kadarius Toney is going to be his size. At just around 5’11 190 lbs it remains to be seen if he’s going to hold up over the course of a full season with an NFL workload.

  • Not Great in Contested Catch Situations

This isn’t really the bread and butter of Toney’s game but it helps to be able to make catches in traffic and with defenders around you and Toney isn’t going to be able to do that consistently at the NFL level.

  • Not Refined Yet

Kadarius Toney’s ceiling is through the roof but teams shouldn’t expect him to be a completely polished player right off the bat. His route running needs work even if he can gain separation just with his quickness and his hands also need work.

Player Comp: There isn’t exactly a clear player comparison for Kadarius Toney considering that the explosiveness he has is elite and is rarely found at his size. I’d say that his best player comparison is a tuned up version of Curtis Samuel. Their strengths are almost identical but Kadarius Toney has more quickness and the ability to develop into a better route runner. I think Samuel is what Toney will be if not utilized completely well but if utilized well he can be a much better player than Samuel.

Final Thoughts: I think that I’m around the consensus on Toney having him as my 6th ranked wide receiver and him in the mid round 2 range. I think that his explosiveness and speed is so indispensable and I think that if utilized properly he has a massive ceiling and in the right situation I think he could easily end up as one of the top receivers in the class. I think he fits in the mid second round window. I think the Saints would be a perfect fit as Emmanuel Sanders is aging and expensive and they need someone to play across Michael Thomas. I also trust Sean Payton to use him to his full capacity.