Kadarius Toney literally runs out of his shoes amid cleat issues during New York Giants rookie minicamp

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Eli Manning's rookie camp debut was one to forget.

The mere mention of his initial throws bouncing off a tackling dummy still makes New York Giants co-owner and team president John Mara cringe.

Two years ago, Daniel Jones fired a perfect pass deep over the middle to a wide open receiver on his first day as a Giant, yet Darius Slayton dropped it, struggling through a difficult afternoon.

Chemistry certainly was not a lingering issue as the two rookies wound up connecting for five touchdowns that season, and three more last fall.

So as far as first impressions go, Kadarius Toney wasn't necessary staring at a high bar.

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As Giants coach Joe Judge indicated Friday following the first practice session of rookie camp, for evaluation purposes, this was more of an orientation than a competition – for now, anyway.

This is what will be remembered from Toney's first official day on the field as a Giant:

It was (mostly) all about the shoes.

The Giants' first-round pick, a prized wide receiver from Florida, ended up running out of his cleats – quite literally – early in the position drills. He was having a problem with the right cleat, so after removing it, the equipment staff went off to solve what he called a "wrong size" issue.

Instead of waiting on the side for a replacement, Toney kept practicing. He actually ran through the agility ladder with one bare foot on the grass field. 

"Do whatever it takes," Toney said afterward during his video conference with reporters, brushing off his time spent as Shoeless Jo-ka, with a nod to his persona as an aspiring rapper. "That's just me: that's a dog mentality."

Turns out that's the only discomfort Toney has felt with the Giants since becoming their newly-billed electric offensive weapon. Everything else just seems to fit.

Toney began the session in blue cleats with no socks before switching to red cleats with ankle-high white socks, but to no avail. Giants general manager Dave Gettleman chatted with Toney as they waited. That's when an equipment staffer returned to the field from inside the training facility with at least a half-dozen additional pairs of white cleats for Toney to try.

By the end of the 75-minute session, even though he stayed off to the side and stretched with the training staff during the conditioning period, Toney and the Giants ultimately found the right fit with the choice of shoes.

Now it's about seeing how his game matches what the Giants want to do offensively.

That showcase will come eventually, and for Toney, there's no denying the dynamic speed with which he moves, both in traffic and open space. He displayed some of that during offensive drills Friday, turning on a dime while catching quick-hitting, intermediate routes and sprinting upfield, albeit without a defender to juke out or a tackle to break.

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"I think with all these rookies, it's about the same. Our first impression of these guys really was on tape and what we saw leading up to the draft," Judge said. "Right now, we're just trying to get them out there and get them moving. This is all very new for these guys in terms of walking around the building. These guys have as much on their plate in terms of finding out where their locker is, where to eat in the cafeteria, where they shower as much as getting out there, where they stretch where an individual is and when we blow the horn for group and special teams, where they run to. So it's a learning experience for these guys. They try to get on the field and just move as fast as they can."

Art Stapleton is the Giants beat writer for NorthJersey.com Contact him via email at: stapleton@northjersey.com; or on Twitter: @art_stapleton