Travis Toivonen gets chance to catch on with Giants, keep NFL dream alive
Giants' Travis Toivonen during the Giants minicamp at the team's training facility in East Rutherford, New Jersey on June 8, 2022. Credit: Patrick E. McCarthy
The skeptics weighed in quickly and decisively: After a solid but unspectacular career at North Dakota, it was time for wide receiver Travis Toivonen to move on and abandon any hope of playing in the NFL.
Toivonen caught 48 passes for 684 yards and seven touchdowns in 2019 but wasn’t even the leading receiver for the Fighting Hawks in his final season at the Grand Forks-based school, where football season gives way to freezing winters.
“I had a lot of people tell me right out of college [to stop playing],” Toivonen told Newsday earlier this month. “I had a few guys tell me I wasn’t good enough to make it and I will never make it.”
But the dream wouldn’t die.
At 24, convinced to his core that he has what it takes to play at the highest level, he is continuing his journey despite long odds.
“It’s just one of those things where you just got to trust yourself, trust your loved ones,” he said. “I believe I can make it, so it’s just going out there and proving it.”
He has that chance with the Giants.
At the team’s minicamp last week, it was hard not to notice the 6-4, 212-pound Toivonen, who took advantage of the absence of several of the team’s receivers dealing with injuries. That list included Kenny Golladay, last year’s high-priced free agent; 2021 first-round draft pick Kadarius Toney and seventh-year veteran Sterling Shepard.
On one series with backup quarterback Tyrod Taylor running the offense, Toivonen caught three straight passes. Wearing jersey No. 13, he reminded you of sure-handed Raiders receiver Hunter Renfro, who wears the same number and is one of the NFL’s top third-down pass-catchers.
Toivonen has miles to go before he’d ever get to that level, and he’s still an unlikely candidate to make the Giants’ final roster.
But still . . .
“I really love football and love what I do,” he said, “so having this opportunity to be here is a dream come true. Just gotta keep working and getting better.”
It has been a long journey for Toivonen, with plenty of setbacks along the way.
Such as the time he had his pro day canceled in 2020, a major disappointment for him and other unheralded free agents who often fly under the radar. Those pro days are when scouts can uncover hidden gems, but with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, teams took their scouts off the road in March that year.
Toivonen resorted to an unconventional approach the following year, playing in the fledgling Fan Controlled Football League, an indoor league with just four teams. The most noteworthy player to participate that season was former Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel, whose NFL career had fizzled with the Browns. Toivonen was one of his receivers on the Zappers.
“The league was really fun to play in, a lot of good players, and I got to catch a few passes from Johnny Manziel, so that was pretty cool,” he said. “He was in the mindset that it wasn’t about him. He was there to bring exposure to guys like myself and hopefully give us a run to our dream.”
And Toivonen did get exposure on one particular play. With Braden Smith playing quarterback in a late February 2021 game against the Aces and Toivonen’s team trailing in the final seconds, Smith lofted a desperation pass into the end zone and Toivonen made an acrobatic catch to win the game, 34-30.
The play made it into the “SportsCenter” Top 10. Toivonen posted the video on his Twitter account, @travistoivonen, and wrote, “TOP 10!!”
A few weeks later, with COVID restrictions beginning to ease, Toivonen got a chance to participate in the University of Minnesota pro day, and it was there that Seahawks scouts saw enough promise to sign him. He participated in Seattle’s organized team activity sessions and lasted through training camp and three preseason games but was released shortly before the start of the regular season.
The Giants expressed interest a few weeks into the regular season and added him to their practice squad midway through the season. He never played in a game, but he’s still here. And with a new coaching staff led by Brian Daboll, Toivonen gets to start over on even terms with the rest of the roster.
“It’s a world of difference, especially when we have a new coaching staff,” he said. “I’m able to learn the playbook, so I feel I’m kind of on pace with everybody else, as opposed to coming in behind [last year] and having to play catch-up. This offseason has been a really good one for me in terms of getting better and knowing my responsibilities.”
It’s still a long shot, and obviously there are no guarantees. And just in case, Toivonen does have a backup plan to his NFL dreams; after majoring in entrepreneurship at North Dakota, he became a certified strength and conditioning specialist.
“Ideally, I see myself training athletes, working in a gym and hopefully owning and operating my own gym one day where I can help athletes get to a position where they can succeed and get to the highest levels of their sports,” he said.
But first things first: The NFL dream continues, with no expiration date.
“I’m not worried about a time frame,” he said. “I’m going to play football as long as I can.”
As long as the dream lives on, so do Toivonen’s hopes.
Bob Glauber retired in 2022 after covering the NFL for nearly 40 years. He was selected in 2021 for the Bill Nunn Career Achievement Award by the Pro Football Writers of America, and is a three-time winner of the New York State Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. President of the PFWA for the 2018-20 seasons, he is the author of “The Forgotten First” and “Guts and Genius.”
