Chiefs receive disappointing injury update on WR Kadarius Toney

When Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Kadarius Toney was injured over the weekend while fielding kicks and punts, there was optimism that he would be able to return to the field in no time. There wasn’t much worry that his status for Week 1 would be in doubt.

Toney had aggravated something in his knee which he had a clean-up procedure on during the offseason. However, it turns out that Sunday’s injury was more damaging than originally thought.

According to Chiefs head coach Andy Reid, Toney suffered a partially torn meniscus over the weekend. He had surgery on the injury on Tuesday, which has caused more doubt to arise about his status for Week 1.

“There’s a chance for the first game,” Reid said of a timeline for Toney’s return. “We’ll just have to see how the recovery goes with him. But I mean he’s bound and determined he’s going to be there for the first game. We’ll see how it goes.

“I’m glad they caught it, that it happened this early where he can get himself back. We’ve got a lot of time still left. He’s a smart kid so he picks his stuff up fairly easily. I don’t think he’s going to have a tough time getting back in. It’s just [a matter of] getting back into football shape.”

Luckily for Toney, he does has just under seven weeks before the Chiefs take on the Detroit Lions to kick off the 2023 season. While he has not participated in practice since, he has been sitting in on meetings, which are nearly as important for a young player.

“His head’s in the right spot,” quarterback Patrick Mahomes said. “He came in with the mentality of he was going to work, and he tried to get himself better and obviously he had the little [injury] happen but I think the best thing about it is he can get it cleaned up or whatever it is [with the surgery].

“He’s in all the meetings, he’s still watching film with me and we’re talking through everything that we’re doing and so as long as his head’s right there and he’s learning that way, I have no doubt his physical ability will be there. I’m just glad that he’s here and he’s going to be in the building in all the different meetings. This is where we really set the offense on how we’re going to go throughout the season.”

Toney is set to have a big role in the Chiefs’ offense this upcoming season. He is one of the players that they are counting on to step up in the place of JuJu Smith-Schuster, who signed a free agent deal with the New England Patriots.

An explosive athlete, the impact that Toney can have on the game was on full display in the Super Bowl against the Philadelphia Eagles. He hauled in a touchdown reception in the fourth quarter while also having a long punt return that set up another score.

Multi-talented, the skill set is there for Toney to become an impact player. But, injuries have really hurt him in the early going. In his first two professional seasons, he has already missed 15 regular season games.