Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Kadarius Toney didn’t have a very good week. And his performance in a season-opening loss last Thursday was pretty awful, too.
Toney addressed reporters Wednesday for the first time since the Chiefs’ 21-20 loss to the Detroit Lions, a game that saw Toney drop two crucial passes, one that ended up going for a Lions pick-6. Toney has been the butt of social media jokes and memes since the loss, but it’s his team he most cares about.
“In reality, I told coach, I told Pat (Mahomes), I told all the guys, that’s on me,” Toney said. “At the end of the day, y’all count on me and rely on me to make certain plays and I have to be able to do that.”
Toney finished with one catch for 1 yard against the Lions on a team-high-tying five targets. The Chiefs needed a go-to receiver against the Lions with All-Pro tight end Travis Kelce missing the game with a knee injury.
Toney missed training camp after having surgery to repair a partial tear in his meniscus. He played in seven games (three starts) for the Chiefs in 2022 after getting traded from the New York Giants. So, he’s still trying to get things figured out.
Toney has had the full support of his teammates and coaches, including Chiefs head coach Andy Reid, who told him to just settle down.
Mahomes said after the game he’s sure “those drops will disappear.”
“I have trust in KT. He missed a lot of training camp,” Mahomes said Thursday. “Obviously, he wanted to play and fought in rehab hard so he could play. Stuff is not always going to go your way, obviously, he would have wanted to catch a few of those in the game, but I have trust that he is going to be the guy that I go to in those crucial moments and he’s going to make the catch and win us some games like he did last year and get him more and more reps.”
As for Toney, he’s looking straight ahead to Jacksonville on Sunday in Week 2.
“Just thinking about next week and how I can make plays,” Toney said. “I’m not going to dwell on the past.”
–Field Level Media