Here’s some unsolicited advice for the Chiefs as they prepare for their trip to Sin City for the 2024 Super Bowl. Leave your problems at home.
A fairer warning to Kansas City’s decision-makers: Don’t play with fire when good things are happening. There is a risk of burns.
Few head coaches in the NFL have done a better job of pushing the right buttons than Andy Reid of the Chiefs, who is playing in his fourth Super Bowl in the past five years. Reid is on the short list of greatest coaches in NFL history.
But it will be interesting to see what Reid does with Kadarius Toney, the Chiefs’ unpredictable, unreliable, inconsistent and troubled receiver. Because Reid should leave Toney in Kansas City when the team heads west to Last Vegas, for the benefit of the rest of the players on the roster and the coaching staff.
The 25-year-old receiver left a trail of deterioration in New York and New Jersey after the Giants drafted him in the 2021 first round, but he remained with the organization until Brian Daboll ultimately shipped him to Kansas State. City in 2022 was nothing more than a lingering migraine for — the Chiefs threaten to win their third Super Bowl in five years.
If Toney is in Las Vegas and, more importantly, in uniform next Sunday at Allegiant Stadium against the 49ers, the risk outweighs the reward for Reid, no matter how enticing his talent. It’s probably big.
It’s been just a week since Toney went on an X-rated, expletive-filled 45-second rant on Instagram in which he accused Reid and the Chiefs of lying after putting him on the injury report with a hip injury and removing him from the AFC Championship roster. game in Baltimore.
Not only is calling your boss a liar in public a heinous crime, even if it’s not fire-worthy, but that rant should be used against him on the morning of a title fight for optimal diversionary value. Posted on social media account.
This rant and its timing was a deliberate attempt to prevent the Chiefs from defeating the Ravens and advancing to the Super Bowl. Unless it’s a detriment to the team, it won’t happen.
Reid told reporters last week that he had seen the post and denied the team’s lie that Toney was injured.
“Yeah, well, obviously he was on the injury report,” Reid said. “So that part is by no means fiction. But he’s been through some things. He’ll be back there again.”
“Back” meant the practice field, a word that was clearly uncomfortable for Tony, who was traveling to Las Vegas and potentially competing.
And that’s a risk the Chiefs shouldn’t take. Because this player has shown himself to be more of a nuisance than he’s worth throughout his career.
Consider Tony’s body of work this season.
In the season opener, a one-point loss to the Lions, a pass slipped through his arm and resulted in a pick-six.
During the Chiefs’ regular-season loss to the Bills, Toney was penalized for lining up offside, a wild trick play that would have given him the lead late in the game and negated his own touchdown. It was a violation.
Against New England, the ball left his hands for an interception, one of two valuable drops of the game.
Now, let’s consider Toney’s regular season performance, where no one will forget Tyreek Hill. On 38 targets he had 27 receptions for 169 yards and 1 TD.
And finally, consider that the Chiefs won both games this postseason without Toney on the field.
Translating all of the above, they don’t need him. So let’s move on.
Still, Toney was seen on the practice field last week without being reported injured. And some coaches were talking as if it was a potential plan for him to play in the Super Bowl. For their sake, I hope it’s all a smokescreen.
“It’s possible,” Chiefs special teams coordinator Dave Taub said Friday when asked if Toney would be used as a punt returner against the 49ers.it’s up to the coach [Reid]. But he’s definitely in it. ”
When asked about Toney’s status, Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy called it a “day-to-day” evaluation, adding that in practice “I thought he was feeling good.”
When the Chiefs acquired Toney from the Giants, they occasionally used him as a punt returner. His numbers were modest until his game-changing 65-yard return for a TD in last February’s Super Bowl win over the Eagles. Toney played only eight snaps in that Super Bowl, but he was thunderous on that punt return.
Now, given Tony’s recent inexcusable transgressions and the resulting chaos, they’re at risk of being struck by lightning if he’s on the field.
