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Adam Teicher, Editor of ESPN
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Chief of Kansas City‘ interested in wide receiver Kadarius Toney back well before they got him in a trade last season with New York Giants. They had hoped he would fall into their hands in the 2021 draft and then tried to trade for him last spring before finally sending him out of New York last fall.
It’s no surprise, then, that the Chiefs believe Toney is the first to become their next #1 wide receiver.
“He’s mostly a slot machine player, a spinner, a runner — a video player, if you will — but I don’t know if there’s a limit to his game. because he has a vertical game,” said Chiefs general manager Brett Veach. [his collegiate team at Florida was] a team that pushed the ball down the pitch vertically, and his early days in New York, I don’t know if they were a team that actually pushed the ball down the pitch vertically.
“It’s a fair question to [ask]: ‘Has he ever played with a midfielder who likes to push the ball down the pitch?’ We have a lot of high hopes for him. He was the first round pick for a reason. There’s a reason why we traded him in and we felt like he was the first talent.”
The Chiefs need Veach to be right about Toney. They have no one ever NFL No. 1 recipient, first for quarterback Patrick Mahomes. During his first seasons as a starting midfielder, the Captain was Tireek Hill at wide receiver and have JuJu Smith-Schuster last year.
Among the contenders for playtime is Toney, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, moore sky, Justin Watson, RichieJames and second round draft selection rice rasee. The best single NFL season in terms of catches came from James, who had 57 hosts to the Giants last season.
Valdes-Scantling is a veteran in the group, but last season was his best of the five with 42 catches. Career best for Watson is 15 years old with Tampa Bay in 2019 and again with the Captain last season.
Department Heads are expecting the biggest growth from not only Toney but also Moore. Toney had 14 catches after joining the Captain in a mid-season trade last year, this number after catching 39 passes for the Giants as a rookie in 2021. Moore had 22. catching the ball as a rookie last year.
Coach Andy Reid said he looks forward to Toney and Moore continuing to improve in training camp as they get more rep with Mahomes.
Mahomes said: “You can see that especially with Skyy towards the end of the season, the way he’s getting more and more involved in the fouls. I think he will continue to take those steps and get even better this year as he is more relaxed and able to use his talents more.
“With Kadarius, I think you saw the downside of how he could become an exceptional talent last year. For him to commit that foul in another year, for him to work with Coach Reid and the way we train and the training camp, I think he’ll be in the best shape you can get out. yard and healthy throughout the season long. And so we’re delighted that those guys are taking the next steps in this offence.”
Rice caught 96 passes last season at SMU. The captains see similarities to Smith-Schuster, who led their broad collectors count last season with 78 before signing as a free agent this year with New England Patriotsespecially the ability to make contested tackles and run afterwards.
Assistant general manager Mike Borgonzi said: “He would go forward and receive the ball and then when he caught the ball he was very violent and he would run back after catching the ball. “It’s an important part of our offense here.”
Rice practiced pre-draft with a Mahomes and Chiefs receiver in Texas, running routes and catching passes. After being drafted by the chiefs, he compared himself to Arizona Cardinals wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins.
“We both hit the ball [aggressively] and you never know what we can do with the ball in our hands,” he said.
Regardless of what happens to Moore, Rice and the others, the Captains are looking forward to a big season from Toney. He was able to contribute to the Captain following a mid-season trade, despite missing three games because of a hamstring injury.
He caught a 5-yard touchdown pass in the 4th half of Super Bowl LVII to give the Captain the lead and then hit back a 65-yard pitch to set another score.
The chiefs expected it to be just the beginning.
“We brought him here mid-season and so you can only do so much with him,” Veach said. “He’s super smart so it won’t be a problem. [with] capture ideas or concepts. We were amazed at how quickly he picked it up.
“I think the sky is the limit for him.”
