On October 20, the Chiefs’ were rumored to make a roster move after freeing up $3.4 million in cap space by converting a portion of Travis Kelce’s base salary into a singing bonus. At the time, the only hint was that the team was in the trade market, but they were eyeing a player that wasn’t on anyone else’s radar.
Flash forward a week later, and that player would be revealed to be former New York Giants WR Kadarius Toney, who was traded to Kansas City on October 27 in exchange for conditional third and sixth-round draft picks in 2023.
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes already gave a warm welcome to Toney upon first arriving in Kansas City. On Monday, during his media availability, it was head coach Andy Reid’s turn to welcome his newest receiver to the organization publicly and also share some insight on what the future will hold for Toney as he begins to learn the offensive scheme.
“I think that’s a nice addition by Brett [Veach],” Reid began. “He is healthy right now, which is a good thing. We’re looking forward to getting him in the mix somehow. We’re working through that. We’re meeting as an offensive staff and going through those things now. We’ll just see how it sorts out here. We’ve got one football, and we’ve got a few guys that we’d like to get the ball to. We’ll just see how he fits in.”
It’s unlikely we’ll see Toney play in the Chiefs’ Week 8 matchup against the Tennessee Titans. Kansas City will need to allow the former first-round pick time to get acquainted with the playbook before being inserted into a game.
“I’m not expecting him to learn the whole offense in a day,” Reid said. “I think it’ll be a gradual process going forward, even though he is a smart kid. I’m sure he’ll pick it up relatively fast.”
Toney will also work with special teams coach Dave Toub, who’ll find ways to get the most out of his speed and shifty running style. He had some success as a return specialist with the Flordia Gators, fielding 15 kicks for 324 yards and 13 punts for 147 yards and score. Expect Toub to find ways to help Toney get back to having success as a returner at the NFL level.
“Yeah, again, he’s had experience with [kick and punt returns] in college,” Reid said. “He was actually very good at that in college. Not as much in the NFL as college, but we know he has that potential, and we’ll see where that goes.”
Toney probably won’t make an immediate impact for Kansas City. Still, regarding future implications that stem from trading for him, Reid says he prefers to let general manager Brett Veach and the Chiefs’ front office handle that side of things. Meanwhile, his goal is to find ways to help Toney make an impact on offense.
“I mean, on those, you’ve got to look at, we’re always trying to stay 2-3 years down the road on that part,” Reid explained. “Our financial guys do a great job with it, our cap guys and likewise (Brett) Veach does a great job with it. So, they share that with me. It’s my responsibility to get these guys incorporated. That’s kind of where my energy goes. They do have a plan there, and they do talk to me about that.”
Until the Chiefs can get Toney into the meeting room and onto the practice field, not much will be known about his strengths and weaknesses. This is why Reid is firmly taking the ‘wait-and-see approach until more intel can be assessed.
“Yeah, so listen, we’ve got a handful of guys that are very capable,” Reid said. “I joked about it, but you’ve got one football, and you can only spread it around to one person at a time. But at the same time, we try to exploit everybody’s strengths and use them as we go and then work on whatever weaknesses they have. So that allows us to get guys into a decent position to do what we think they do best. So, it won’t be any different for him than the other guys. We’ll see how it works out. We’ll see how fast he picks it up. Then, he hasn’t played in the last couple of weeks here, so getting him back in the swing of things and the speed of things. We’ll just see, take it day by day and see how he does with it. We’re not going to rush him into something that he’s not comfortable with or that I’m not comfortable with.”
It’ll be interesting to see how Toney improves the Chiefs’ offense and what role he’ll play. From his few highlights while in a Giants jersey, Toney looks like a player that could be a lethal weapon for Mahomes to throw to, as shown below:
Only time will tell.
