Kansas City Chiefs: Top 5 boom or bust players for 2023

1. Kadarius Toney

There simply isn’t a player on the Chiefs’ roster with a bigger boom or bust situation than Kadarius Toney. Toney arrived in Kansas City via trade mid-season last year. In that half-season (plus the playoffs), Toney flashed a big play upside that had only been topped by Tyreek Hill during the Patrick Mahomes era in KC. The departure of Juju Smith-Schuster and the lack of any other proven wide receiver addition has left the door wide open for Toney to become the clear number two weapon in the passing attack behind Travis Kelce.

Toney’s “boom” scenario really has no ceiling. If Toney plays the full season and is KC’s top pass-catching wide receiver he will be one of the most dynamic players in all the NFL at any position. He’ll be a household name, a fantasy superstar, and would put his name next to Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, and Chris Jones as truly elite stars on the team. Sounds great, right?

The problem is there are a couple of massive hurdles standing in the way of that “boom” scenario and if just one of those hurdles trips Toney up he could easily find himself in a “bust” scenario instead. We all know that the top hurdle for Toney is his health. In his first two seasons in the NFL Toney has totaled just 19 regular season games played because of injury. If Toney can’t stay healthy he can’t fill KC’s production needs at wide receiver. It’s that simple.

Health isn’t the only hangup for Toney though. Counting the playoffs, Toney was active for 10 games with the Chiefs last season. In those ten games, he averaged just 13.9 offensive snaps per game. For comparison, Juju averaged 46.9 snaps per game last season including the playoffs. Were the Chiefs limiting his snaps because of his injury concerns? Was it because he was new to the team and didn’t know the full playbook yet? Was it because they felt his size/skillset was a better fit for a specialized role than an every-down starting receiver? Did they just trust guys like Juju more and they didn’t need him to play many snaps? Whatever the answer is, in addition to proving he can stay healthy, Toney needs to prove he can be more of an every-down player if he wants to hit his ceiling.

The even more interesting question is if the Chiefs even want to try making him an every-down receiver or if his injury concerns will cause them to choose a lower ceiling over keeping him healthy. Will the Chiefs opt for less of a “boom” to ensure he isn’t a total bust? I guess we’ll have to wait and find out.

So there you have it Chiefs fans. Those are my top five boom-or-bust players for 2023. What do you think? Do you agree with all five of these guys making the list? Do you think there’s a player that deserved to make this list that I left out? How likely do you think it is that most of these guys hit their “boom” scenario? I’d love to read your thoughts in the comments below.