AP
Ex-Giants receiver Amani Toomer has agreed to a one-year deal with the Chiefs.
Toomer played the first 13 seasons of his career with the Giants before he and the team parted ways this offseason. Toomer, who is the Giants’ all-time leading receiver, totaled 668 catches for 9,497 yards and 54 touchdowns for Big Blue.
Retirement was never an option, so even as training camps opened around the league, the veteran kept working out, waiting to get a call.
“I definitely thought I was going to play, I kept working out like I was going to play,” Toomer said Tuesday after his first practice with his new team. “It bothered me ego-wise, but I kept going, kept doing my thing and I’m here now.” 1The Chiefs didn’t pursue Toomer as a free agent during the offseason, opting to head into training camp with an inexperienced group of receivers. But as those receivers continued to drop passes, they started looking for veteran help.
Kansas City brought in Toomer, David Terrell and D.J. Hackett for a workout on Monday, then completed a deal with Toomer before Tuesday’s practice. The Chiefs also claimed linebacker Vince Redd off waivers from New England, creating space on the roster by releasing tight end Tony Curtis and guard Edwin Harrison.
“We’ll do anything to improve the competition and obviously a guy of Amani’s caliber with what he’s done in the league (would do that),” Chiefs coach Todd Haley said. “We worked him out and it looked like he had a lot left in the tank, so we signed him.”
Now, after playing for a team that was consistently in the playoff picture, Toomer joins one that’s rebuilding after a 2-14 season.
“If you look at the situation here, with a new coach, a great quarterback, it’s just a good situation for me to be in and I’m happy to be here,” said Toomer, who wore No. 13 for his first practice. “It’s like you can feel the excitement coming through in how the coaches are trying to change to environment.”
Toomer’s time in New York did not end well.
“They tried to do it earlier in the season, but I kept playing well and keeping myself in the mix,” Toomer said in February. “They let me play myself out of it, then kind of pulled the rug out from under me. I was fighting it. I was fighting it for as long as I could. I kept making big plays and I felt like if they kept throwing to me, I’d keep making big plays.
“But I feel like they made a decision that, ‘Look, we can’t keep him sticking around. We’ve got to turn the page. We can’t just keep letting him go on and on.'”
Toomer, who turns 35 in September, beat out David Terrell and D.J. Hackett for the roster spot. All three worked out with the Chiefs yesterday.
— with Justin Terranova
