Andy Reid Confirms Popular Suspicion About Kadarius Toney’s Role in KC Chiefs’ Offense

Toney has seen a decrease in snaps on offense, and head coach Andy Reid discussed his workload on Monday afternoon.

The Kansas City Chiefs are back from their bye week, using Monday as a day for light work and simply getting back in the swing of things. A Super Bowl LVII rematch against the Philadelphia Eagles looms on Week 11's Monday Night Football slate, leaving seven days for both teams to get ready.

Perhaps the biggest storyline for Kansas City in its first half of the season was the wide receiver room struggling. The team has been able to count on rookie Rashee Rice and veteran Justin Watson for the most part, yet everyone else on the depth chart has underdelivered. One of those players is Kadarius Toney, who was touted as a potential No. 1 wideout entering the season but has since done little to justify that hype. He also simply hasn't seen the field a ton. 

Speaking on Monday afternoon, head coach Andy Reid was asked about Toney's lack of serious involvement on offense and his outlook for the rest of the season. Reid said the team is taking a cautious approach with the former first-round pick, citing his training camp injury as a contributing factor. 

"We'll just keep coming with him," Reid said. "I just want to remind everybody that he did have the knee surgery, so we're taking it easy with him up to this point. Just making sure he can make it through the year in good health."

Toney suffered the aforementioned knee injury on the first day of full-team practice at camp in July, leaving him out for the entire preseason. He came back in time for Week 1 and logged a combined 35 snaps in the Chiefs' first two regular-season contests, although a toe ailment limited him to just two reps in Week 3 against the Chicago Bears. Over the next three games, the dynamic wideout saw his snap counts jump from 17 to 25 to 30, but things took a negative turn thereafter.

Since Kansas City acquired Mecole Hardman in a trade with the New York Jets, Toney has been less and less involved on offense. He played 13 and 12 snaps, respectively, in Weeks 7 and 8 before seeing that number drop to just seven in Germany versus the Miami Dolphins. That marked a season-low total for a game in which Toney was perceived to be healthy, raising questions about whether this was a long-term play by the Chiefs and more of an effort to keep him safe for the stretch run of the season. Reid somewhat confirmed what many have been suspecting.

"Listen, he played seven plays last week," Reid said. "We can play him more than that and still be okay. And then we just keep an eye on his leg and make sure that we're repping that out the right way and let him keep progressing as we go here throughout the year. That's the important part." 

Among all pass catchers on the Chiefs, Toney ranks fourth in receptions (20) this season. Despite that, he's ninth in yards and has a lowly 46.4% success rate. Instead of using him like a true receiver, Kansas City has leaned on Toney to be more of an opening script or situational player while fielding him for passes near the line of scrimmage. His current role-workload combination isn't what anyone expected it to be coming into the year. 

Whether there's more in store for Toney moving forward remains to be seen. A season ago, he missed Weeks 12-14 and logged just five snaps in his first game back but then played 16, 19 and 18 to close out the regular season. On the other hand, he had 10 offensive reps between his final two playoff outings. How the Chiefs choose to unleash Toney with the bye in the rearview mirror will be telling, as it isn't like the rest of the receivers are so good that there isn't a spot for him on offense. Kansas City could likely benefit from additional plays going Toney's direction — will the patience Reid speaks of eventually lead to something more?

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