It has not been a smooth ride this season for Kansas City Chiefs wide receivers, and especially not for Kadarius Toney. The Chiefs' wideouts have been under fire all season, and Toney seems to have been in the middle of some of the most singularly damaging plays of the year.
Following another crucial drop on Sunday against the Patriots, Chiefs coach Andy Reid was asked for his thoughts on Toney, and whether his play might affect his role with the team moving forward. "We'll see how things go. I'm not down on Toney," Reid said, per Pro Football Talk. "He does some good things, man, so we've just got to keep -- he's a young guy, so we're not talking about somebody that has been in this league a long time."
Toney may be young, but he is now in his third year in the NFL and he has plenty of experience at this point. And regardless of how young he is, the mistakes he's made are bordering on intolerable of late.
Among the 90 wide receivers who have been targeted at least 35 times this season, Toney has the second-highest drop rate (13.5%), according to Tru Media. Amazingly, two of his drops have turned into interceptions (one into a pick-six) and three would have turned into first downs at huge moments of their respective games.
After the latest of those plays, Patrick Mahomes was visibly infuriated on the sideline, yelling into the void about what had transpired.
This was Patrick Mahomes' reaction after Kadarius Toney dropped a pass that ended up being picked off by the Patriots. pic.twitter.com/lYA3DqB02H
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) December 17, 2023
Of course, Toney also infamously lined up offsides on the potential game-winning play against the Bills two weeks ago, taking what would have instantly become one of the most famous touchdowns in NFL history off the board and eventually leading to Kansas City's defeat.
All 22 angle of the Kelce lateral/Toney offside play. Doesn't appear Toney once checks with the sideline judge on his side from this.
— Shaun Newkirk (@Shauncore) December 11, 2023
Also amazing job still from Kelce finding him in space. pic.twitter.com/UyiVABuBSp
If the Chiefs had any other reliable receivers outside of rookie Rashee Rice (who, it should be noted, has been quite good lately), it seems likely that Toney's playing time would be slashed, if not cut out entirely. But because players like Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Skyy Moore have arguably been even more ineffective than Toney when given their opportunities, he continues to get chances. They're going to need him to capitalize on some of them soon or this season isn't going to go the way they want it to; but either way, Kansas City is going to need to invest in dramatically reshaping the receiver room this offseason.
