National Football League

Why there’s ‘no limit' for WR Kadarius Toney in Kansas City

Updated Feb. 23, 2023 4:13 p.m. ET

Kadarius Toney has had his fair share of breakout performances. The Kansas City Chiefs receiver scored a touchdown and logged a 65-yard punt return in Super Bowl LVII. He put together a nice game this past season in Week 10 (four catches, 57 yards, 1 TD) and, as a rookie with the New York Giants in 2021, he posted a big game in Week 5 (10 catches, 189 yards).

There's no doubting Toney's top-end potential. The problem is how often he disappears, whether it's a simple lack of production or due to injury.

The Giants drafted him with a first-round pick with hopes they could improve his route-running to make efficient use of his staggering change-of-direction and top-end speed. They couldn't get it done. And perhaps they felt they'd never get it done, because they traded him to Kansas City in the middle of last season for a third-round compensatory pick and a sixth-rounder.

"I don't know what the Giants were doing with KT, but he's a dog," Chiefs receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster said in a post-Super Bowl press conference. "Brett Veach and Andy Reid know how to pick and choose who to go get and who will fit in with this team. The hard part with him is trying to block for him. He's like a rubber band. He just jukes so many times that it's hard to block for him. But as you can see his punt return set us up big to put points on the board."

In the wake of winning the Lombardi, Toney was asked about the trade from the Giants.

"I really didn't care at the end. I really didn't care now," he said.

Ultimately, he's in a better spot than he was. As much as Giants coach Brian Daboll is enormously respected for his offensive prowess, his quarterback is Daniel Jones, a player with plenty of limitations — at least at this stage of his career. And even if you think Jones is developing into a very good player, you can't compare him to Toney's new quarterback: Patrick Mahomes. The Chiefs QB has made a habit of getting the most out of players in ways comparable to Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees.

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Mahomes did wonders for Smith-Schuster, who went from playing five games with 15 catches, 129 receiving years and zero touchdowns with the Steelers in 2021 to 16 games with 78 catches, 933 yards and three touchdowns in 2022 with Kansas City. That's the kind of production uptick that the Chiefs want to see with Toney. And it's not crazy to think he can do it. Smith-Schuster is a pending free agent in a weak market of receivers — he might be the top option. If he leaves, that would put Toney in line for a big promotion.

"With the athletic ability that is obvious to everybody, the sky's the limit for him as a receiver," Chiefs receivers coach Joe Bleymaier told FOX Sports earlier this month. "When you get him [in a trade] in-season, our main focus was just getting him comfortable and getting him to be able to operate. He's so smart and has such a good memory that he was able to pick everything up quick. So he got comfortable with the offense very quickly. And then it was just about managing the load and where he fit in with all the other pieces midseason."

It wasn't the easiest acclimation process, with Toney missing three weeks due to a hamstring injury. He also battled knee and ankle issues in the playoffs. He didn't play more than 44% of offensive snaps in any single game, including the postseason. In the Super Bowl, Toney played just six offensive snaps, the fewest among the five Kansas City receivers who played. He didn't find his way to the top of the depth chart.

But there remains plenty of optimism about the wideout.

"It'll be all about how can we take what we built off this year and just expand his role however it goes — whether it's downfield stuff, whether it's more in the backfield," Bleymaier said. "And with his intelligence, he can do it all. It's just now building off what we did and then kind of fitting in complementary parts with every other part of the offense. But it's definitely exciting. And there is no limit with the glimpse that we've had from midseason till now."

So far with Toney, it has been all about looking into the future with the thrill of what he could do. In 2023, it should be his year to get it done — to be that player everyone thinks he has the potential to be.

Prior to joining FOX Sports as the AFC East reporter, Henry McKenna spent seven years covering the Patriots for USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Boston Globe Media. Follow him on Twitter at @McKennAnalysis.

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