Mecole Hardman, Kadarius Toney still face uncertain return dates

The Kansas City Chiefs still aren’t entirely sure when they will welcome back wide receivers Mecole Hardman and Kadarius Toney to the field.

It’s entirely possible that the Kansas City Chiefs will be fully stocked at the wide receiver position for the first time in several weeks on Sunday when they take the field at NRG Stadium to face the Houston Texans. It’s also possible that the unit remains lacking its fastest options for the next couple of weeks.

It’s perplexing and a bit frustrating to say that the Chiefs aren’t entirely sure when they will welcome back wide receivers Mecole Hardman and Kadarius Toney, but such is the nature of their injuries in the second half of the season.

Mecole Hardman has been battling an abdomen injury since early November. He missed Week 8 and came back for Week 9 only to be placed on injured reserve thereafter. It was an unfortunate development for both team and player given how important Hardman was becoming to the Chiefs as a scoring machine, a player who was growing into greater responsibilities without Tyreek Hill on the depth chart in front of him.

Given that Hardman is in a contract year, it would work in his favor to come back soon, but the Chiefs just opened the 21-day window for him to practice and then return to the field from the injured reserve. It’s possible he could be back as soon as this week, but the Chiefs might play this slowly knowing the level of competiion isn’t exactly fierce this week against the Texans.

As for Toney, he was an instant injection into the Chiefs already dangerous offense after the team traded for him from the New York Giants in early November.  However, the Chiefs lost his skill set with a hamstring injury that’s kept him out of the last three games. This week he’s been limited in practice, and again, it might make sense to take on Houston without pushing Toney too quickly.

Then again, the Chiefs passing game is clearly lacking overall speed as both Hardman and Toney are the types of players who help open up the field for everyone else. Right now, teams are playing it close on tight end Travis Kelce and daring anyone else to beat them.

Will Toney and/or Hardman return this week? What about next week? Anything feels possible at this point, and the only certainty here is that we’ll have to wait and see what Kansas City decides to do.