The Kansas Metropolis Chiefs have misplaced three of their final 4 video games – together with two straight — and sit only a sport forward of the resurgent Denver Broncos atop the AFC West. Whereas there may be definitely loads of blame to go round for the group’s struggles, Kadarius Toney stays on the middle of all of it.
As a substitute of shifting on and specializing in a really winnable sport towards New England — QB Patrick Mahomes regretted venting to Josh Allen — the mercurial vast receiver continues to be blaming the refs for his pricey offside penalty in KC’s loss to the Buffalo Payments.
“…[T]hey got here again and lied and stated they gave me a warning, which I by no means talked to a ref,” Toney stated.
“Whether or not it was, an inch, two inches, no matter in entrance of the ball, the referee acquired a job to let me know,” Toney stated. “He didn’t make no effort. You watch the video, he didn’t make no effort to say something about no alignment. So apparently, he wished to try this regardless. However like I stated, we’re simply going again to the small print and simply make sure that we fine-print every little thing.
As a substitute of taking part in the blame sport — head coach Andy Reid even said Toney didn’t examine in with the refs — the WR must take a superb have a look at himself. He’s made costly drops along with his boneheaded mistake final week. And the way typically does a first-round NFL draft choose find yourself on his second group come his second 12 months within the league?
As our own DJ Dunson wrote, Toney’s largest contributions thus far have been the memes. “He’s the uncommon injury-prone receiver who’s worse off when he’s working routes. Drafting Toney within the first spherical in the end value Dave Gettleman his job.”
The expertise wasn’t precisely in query. Throughout his senior 12 months at Florida, Toney averaged 69.5 yards per sport, scored 12 TDs, and racked up 1,500 yards receiving. Some thought he was the steal of the primary spherical as a result of he slipped to twentieth total.
However as soon as he was with the Giants, he was primarily a non-factor. He solely began 4 of the ten video games he appeared in as a rookie — catching 39 passes for 420 yards — because of a litany of accidents and COVID-19. As ESPN’s Jordan Raanan wrote, he additionally irked the earlier Giants regime by not displaying as much as voluntary OTAs within the spring of 2021. The issue the New York brass had with Toney? They by no means knew what to anticipate, Raanan stated. And regardless of an absolute dearth of expertise on the place, Huge Blue was nonetheless desirous to commerce Toney.
However maybe even a few of his off-the-field conduct must be trigger for concern. Toney actively replies to trolls on the web, moderately than let his play speak. He posted in regards to the Giants dropping 40-0 in Week 1 — the identical week he value KC a win because of his butter fingers.
If Kansas Metropolis goes to get again on observe, they want extra maturity from their 24-year-old vast receiver.
“We’ve moved on. That’s the place we’re at,” Reid stated.