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» » Kadarius Toney vows to ‘do it my hardest’ to elevate Chiefs’ offense after trade - The Athletic

Kadarius Toney vows to ‘do it my hardest’ to elevate Chiefs’ offense after trade - The Athletic

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Early last week, just as the Chiefs were starting to relax on their bye week, a single text message intrigued superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

“This might happen…” Brett Veach, the Chiefs’ general manager, wrote.

Might became a certainty early Thursday morning. The Chiefs, with the NFL’s trade deadline approaching, executed a deal with the New York Giants for Kadarius Toney, the second-year receiver known for his dynamic abilities and struggles to stay healthy since being selected in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft. In exchange for Toney’s services, the Chiefs sent the Giants two draft picks, a compensatory 2023 third-round pick, which the Chiefs acquired as a result of the Chicago Bears hiring Ryan Poles as their general manager, and a 2023 sixth-round pick.

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Once the trade was agreed upon, one of the first people Veach sent a text message to was Mahomes, the league’s most talented quarterback. In his first public comments since joining the Chiefs, Toney said Wednesday that he learned he was traded just as he was preparing to participate in the Giants’ practice for the first time in more than two weeks. The following day, Toney met Mahomes for the first time, the new teammates taking a photo together inside the Chiefs’ training facility. Toney, wearing a Chiefs beanie and hoodie, smiled.

“I was kind of shocked,” Toney said. “I know the business side of it. I’m just looking forward to the opportunity to develop here. I just want to come in and do what’s asked of me. Whatever plays and whatever assignments I’ve got to do, I’m just going to do it my hardest.”

The league’s trading deadline arrived at 3 p.m. CT Tuesday. With the Chiefs having already made their major move, Tuesday served as one of the few times Mahomes conducted a passing session with Toney, work similar to when the team has a walkthrough.

“He’s super excited,” Mahomes said of Toney. “Everybody sees how much physical gifts he has. He’s fast and bigger than I thought. He’s done a good job, whenever he catches the ball, of being able to make people miss in space. We’re excited to see what he can do in this offense.”

Listed at 6-foot and 193 pounds, Toney possesses the skills the Chiefs covet — elite speed, rare quickness, reliable catching abilities, elusiveness in the open field, versatility, toughness and impressive vision as a returner.

The Chiefs expressed such a message to Toney about 20 months ago, when he entered the 2021 NFL Draft after scoring 11 touchdowns as a senior at Florida. The Giants, with the 20th pick, selected Toney. The Chiefs, meanwhile, didn’t have a first-round pick because they sent it to the Baltimore Ravens a week earlier to acquire star left tackle Orlando Brown Jr.

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“We talked a lot,” Toney said of the Chiefs’ interest in him leading up to the draft. He later added of the trade: “It feels good to be wanted by a team.”

Veach reached out to new Giants general manager Joe Schoen about the possibility of a trade centering around Toney in March, during the league’s free agency period, a possibility that was shared then with Mahomes. Although Veach has yet to discuss Thursday’s trade, Mahomes expressed Wednesday much of what has been Veach’s philosophy since he was promoted to the general manager role in July 2017.

“He’s always looking to add great players,” Mahomes said of Veach. “We have a lot of great receivers. Whenever you have more and more competition, it brings out the best in everybody. I’m excited for that.”

As the Chiefs’ sixth receiver, Toney joins a group of multiple pass catchers playing in their first season alongside Mahomes: JuJu Smith-Schuster, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Justin Watson and rookie Skyy Moore. The Chiefs, though, are entering Sunday’s prime time game against the Tennessee Titans leading the league in points scored per game (31.9). In adding another skill-position weapon, Mahomes, coach Andy Reid and offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy are optimistic that Toney’s versatility can be used in the slot and in the backfield.

The upside for the Chiefs is that Toney, if healthy, could become a significant option in a pass-heavy offense, whether later this season or next season.

“He’s a smart kid,” Reid said. “He picks things up fairly easily. We’ve got a couple plays for him. He seems like a great kid, and he’s anxious. He wants to go, and he knows I’m kind of holding back.”

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The first positive for the team was that Toney was a full participant in Wednesday’s practice.

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With the Giants earlier this season, Toney missed five games with a hamstring injury, the same injury that forced him to miss most of training camp. He has played in just 12 of 24 possible games, missing time his rookie season with ankle, hamstring, quad, oblique, thumb and shoulder injuries. In his time with the Giants, Toney recorded 41 receptions for 420 yards and no touchdowns.

“I really don’t know,” Toney said when asked why his production was limited in New York. “I’m not really concerned about that. I’m a Chief.”

Toney’s first role with the Chiefs could be as the punt returner in Sunday’s game. As a senior at Florida, Toney earned first-team All-SEC honors as a kickoff and punt returner, averaging 12.6 yards per punt return, including scoring one touchdown. Most often, the punt return job this season has been handled by Moore, who has been underwhelming with two muffs, each recovered by the opposing team.

“I like returning them,” Toney said. “Whatever is available, I’m going to take advantage.”

Last season, the Chiefs signed veteran receiver Josh Gordon in late September, a move that didn’t generate a lot of production. In 12 games, Gordon, then in his seventh active season, recorded just five receptions for 32 yards and one touchdown. For most receivers, the Chiefs’ complex playbook is demanding, especially without the full offseason program. Reid wants his receivers to be interchangeable by learning and playing all four main receiver positions.

The Chiefs believe Toney might need a full offseason and training camp to allow him to be fully functional within the scheme and live up to his potential. But if the Chiefs suffer a significant injury at the position later this season, Toney, as he better understands the playbook, could be more than just a limited contributor.

“I’m very eager to go out there,” Toney said of playing Sunday inside Arrowhead Stadium while smiling. “I’m ready to be the player I am. I just want to know where I fit in. I just want to come in and impact (the offense) as much as I can.”

Injury update

Tight end Jody Fortson (quad contusion) was the lone player who did not participate in Wednesday’s practice. Linebacker Willie Gay (hamstring) was limited. Defensive end Mike Danna (right calf) and rookie cornerback Trent McDuffie (left hamstring), who returned to the active roster Tuesday, were full participants.

“We just said, ‘He needs a little bit more time,’” Reid said of McDuffie missing the Chiefs’ win over the San Francisco 49ers. “He’s been great communication-wise with us. We know he wants to play.”

For the first time this season, right tackle Lucas Niang participated in practice. Niang is returning from a torn patellar tendon in his left knee, an injury he sustained in early January. Since Niang is not on the active roster, his level of participation in Wednesday’s practice wasn’t included in the team’s injury report. The Chiefs have three weeks to evaluate Niang before having to decide if he can return to the active roster or must stay on the physically unable to perform list for the rest of the season.

“Niang worked hard,” Reid said. “We’ll see how he does.”

Roster update

The one minor deal the Chiefs made just ahead of the trade deadline involved veteran cornerback Rashad Fenton, who was traded to the Atlanta Falcons in exchange for a conditional 2023 seventh-round pick.

Earlier this season, Fenton, a four-year veteran, struggled in coverage while the team’s three rookie cornerbacks — McDuffie, Joshua Williams and Jaylen Watson — have all showcased their skills to be capable contributors. Fenton is in the last year of his rookie contract and will be an unrestricted free agent in the spring. By trading Fenton, the Chiefs created an additional $1.49 million in salary-cap space. According to Over The Cap, the Chiefs now have $5.26 million in effective cap space.

“We’re wishing him the best of luck,” Reid said of Fenton. “We’ve got depth with some young guys, so we’ll continue to utilize them and let them continue to grow, which they’re doing every week.”

Last week, the league announced that defensive end Frank Clark was suspended two games, starting with Sunday’s game against the Titans, as punishment for violating the personal-conduct policy.

The violation occurred when Clark pleaded no contest to two misdemeanor charges from a June 2021 incident involving possession of a concealed firearm. Before the start of last season, Clark was arrested twice in four months, first in his hometown of Los Angeles on suspicion of having a concealed firearm in a vehicle. The second arrest, after an initial traffic stop, involved an Uzi firearm found in Clark’s vehicle, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

Clark is eligible to return to the Chiefs’ active roster Nov. 14, the day after the team’s Week 10 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

“He’ll do the right things,” Reid said of Clark, who can return to the Chiefs’ training facility Monday and attend meetings ahead of his on-field return. “He’s a good player, so you’ll miss (him). But it gives other guys opportunities to step up.”

Reid declines to comment on son’s prison sentence

In his opening statement Wednesday, Reid said he wouldn’t comment on his son, Britt, being sentenced Tuesday to three years in prison after pleading guilty to felony driving while intoxicated causing serious physical injury. The vehicle Reid was driving hit another vehicle and critically injured Ariel Young, who was 5 years old at the time, on Feb. 4, 2021.

“There’s nothing I can say, or deals with that, that’s going to help us be successful for this weekend against the Titans,” Andy Reid said. “And Britt really said it all in his statement yesterday.”

According to the police report, a truck driven by Britt Reid, who at the time was the Chiefs’ assistant linebackers coach, struck two vehicles on the side of an interstate entrance ramp around 9 p.m. Young suffered life-threatening injuries and a 4-year-old sustained non-life-threatening injuries, the report said.

In November last year, the Chiefs said in a statement that they reached a confidential financial agreement with Young’s family to cover medical expenses and more. Tom Porto, the attorney representing Young’s family, said at the time that Young suffered “permanent brain damage” in the crash.

Prior to the plea deal, Reid was facing up to seven years in prison. In September, Porto told the Associated Press they opposed the plea deal.

“The five victims of this crime are outraged the prosecuting attorney is not seeking the maximum sentence allowable by law,” Porto said in a statement. “The defendant is a prior offender whose actions caused a 5-year-old girl to be in a coma and seriously injured three others.”

Inside a Jackson County (Missouri) courthouse on Tuesday, Reid chose to speak to Ariel Young, 6, and her family during the hearing.

“Every time I see my daughter, I think about Ariel and how my decision affected her so deeply and her family,” Reid said. “Anger and hate are powerful motivators, but I truly believe love and forgiveness are even more powerful. Whatever my sentence is, I understand and accept responsibility for the decision I made that night.”

When asked how he planned to support his son, Andy Reid declined to share details.

“That’s not what this platform is for,” Reid said. “This isn’t the time or the place. And what I say can go two different ways — and be taken different ways. I don’t want to put my players in a position for that, the organization in a position for that, my family in a position for that.

“My opinion doesn’t matter right now. I’ll take care of that. We all, in our lives, have issues that we have to deal with. You do your issues, and then, when you’re at work, you do your work. That’s the frame of mind I’m in. That’s not something that needs to be addressed here in front of everybody.”

(Photo of Kadarius Toney: Evan Pinkus via AP)

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