Is It Time to Doubt or Double Down on Kadarius Toney?

Toney had arguably the worst game of his career last Thursday in Kansas City, however, there's a ton of hope that he'll turn it around starting this Sunday in Jacksonville.

The opening week of the season did not go as planned for the Kansas City Chiefs. The entire team is probably looking in the mirror to reflect on what went wrong last Thursday against the Lions. One player, in particular, who has already voiced their accountability is Kadarius Toney.

The first step in getting over what can only be described as a career-low moment is taking responsibility. That's precisely what Toney did on Wednesday afternoon at his press conference. First off, major props to the wide receiver for embracing the podium and standing in there to face questions. He took them with grace and said, "That's on me," multiple times. He went further, talking about how he knows Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes and the rest of the Chiefs organization rely on him to make plays and saying there's no excuse for his Week 1 performance.

Voicing accountability is a major way to put the performance behind him. The next step is having a bounce-back game this week, helping put his individual season on the right track. The good news is that none of Toney's miscues last Thursday were due to a lack of talent or skill. Most of them could be chalked up to the fact that he missed all of training camp and that opening night was his first live action since the Super Bowl. The drops were visible to everyone who watched, which can be cleaned up with repetition and sharpening the hand-eye coordination that has been out of practice.

You could tell Kadarius Toney hadn't been on a football field for over a month before last night's game. His feel for zone and ability to throttle down in the open area wasn't there. That should get fixed through practice and reps, though. pic.twitter.com/nkigrmaunW

— Zack Eisen (@zackeisen21) September 9, 2023

The other issue that Toney struggled with was his feel against zone coverage. He often drifted into coverage when Mahomes wanted him to throttle down and settle into the soft spot of the defense. That'll be corrected with more time on the field. With him recovering from his training camp injury, he missed a ton of valuable reps that would allow the game to slow down when live bullets were flying. It probably felt like his first game in his rookie season again. Last year when Toney came to Kansas City, he didn't struggle with this issue, which is a positive sign for it being fixed as soon as this week.

Now, on to some of the positive takeaways from Toney's Thursday night. Purely looking at his movement, the viewer could never tell he had meniscus surgery during camp. He looked explosive and dynamic in the limited run he saw. The other good sign is the trust and want to give him opportunities to make plays. Toney only played 16 snaps as Kansas City eased him back into the flow of things, but he touched the ball or was targeted on 37.5% of his snaps — an incredibly high usage rate. The confidence from Reid and Mahomes was there, and with more reps on the field, the execution will follow.

Kadarius does a nice job pressing the sideline to create space back inside on his deep route. If Pat had another split second to step into the throw, he might have hit Toney long. pic.twitter.com/N0Pez4AbF0

— Zack Eisen (@zackeisen21) September 9, 2023

Another positive is how often Toney was open throughout the game. In general, the weapons struggled to get open and create separation throughout the night. Even on plays where he wasn't targeted, Toney was open, beating both man and zone coverage. Two plays could be recalled that would have gone for huge gains or possibly touchdowns if other things within the offense held up.

The former first-round pick had an incredibly rough opening night, consisting of multiple costly drops and other miscues. While fans may be down on the prospect of Toney at the moment, they shouldn't be, as he'll more than likely bounce back starting this week in Jacksonville. Expect Kansas City to get him the ball early and often, making everyone forget about the nightmare of Week 1. Toney can still be the player everyone hoped he could be, and it starts with using his tantalizing talent to have a breakout performance this Sunday.

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