Do not say or post anything on social media that you later have to walk back or regret. That was the message New York Giants head coach Joe Judge gave rookie wide receiver Kadarius Toney following his controversial Henry Ruggs tweets.
Toney, of course, offered a poorly timed take just days after Ruggs was charged with DUI resulting in the horrific death of 23-year-old Tina Tintor and her dog.
We young…..everybody make mistakes….y’all lookin at the situation like “this or that” kuz it ain’t y’all…having so much too say….he know he messed up don’t drag em for it……that’s goofy to me….just pray for the families involved 🙏🏽💯
— Kadarius Toney (@0fficialC2N) November 3, 2021
But Toney felt strongly enough about the message that he was attempting to send that he didn’t walk it back. There was no apology, but there was a little added clarity without the restriction of a word count on Twitter.
That did not come without a tense exchange with reporters, however.
“Like I said, pray for the families involved,” Toney said when asked about the tweets. “Pray for the families. That was clearly stated in there. I don’t know how everything else came about. Take it how you want it.”
As the questions persisted, Toney became more agitated.
“Like I just said, pray for the families involved. Why are you drilling the same question? I’m not going to answer that. Come one. I don’t got time for this,” Toney barked.
Things changed direction for a moment but eventually circled back to the tweets. Again, Toney was visibly annoyed.
Joe Judge spoke with Kadarius Toney about his tweet regarding Henry Ruggs III. Does Toney regret the tweet?
"Like I said, pray for the families involved. How could you regret having empathy for both sides? I don't really get it" pic.twitter.com/ybCjHpAhI4
— Giants Videos (@SNYGiants) November 10, 2021
“I mean, there’s going to be attention anyway just because of who I am, I guess, with anything I say,” Toney said. “Really from Joe, it’s more so say what you’ve got to say, and mean what you say. At the end of the day, you shouldn’t have to go back and clarify anything that you say, which I’m not doing here.
“Like I said, pray for the families involved. How could you regret having empathy for both sides? I don’t really get it.”
Judge previously insisted that Toney was coming from a good place and empathizing will all involved, but acknowledged the message may have been skewed a bit on social media.
“I talked to Kadarius. It’s important that we understand how we articulate our words and put them out there,” Judge said. “Ultimately, our prayers are with everybody. This is a situation no one wants to see happen to anybody. No one wants to be in this situation. While no one is in any way, shape or form dismissing the consequences at all, it’s horrible on both sides. It’s absolutely horrible. As some players on the Raiders and Derek Carr have voiced, as well, it’s a terrible incident. You’ve just got to make sure that you still have prayers for everybody involved. The important thing is we articulate our words and we watch what we say at the same time.”
You have to imagine that Judge and Toney will have another talk after the rookie’s Wednesday press conference went off the rails.
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