Former Chiefs bust gets another chance to redeem himself in since release from KC

Given the raw athleticism and relative youth of Kadarius Toney, it's a bit surprising that he hasn't had much of a chance to make an impression—good or bad—for a new NFL team yet in 2024. Then again, the track record so far speaks for itself, so perhaps it's fitting that Toney needed to sit and wait until the season's second half until he'd be active on an NFL roster.

The Cleveland Browns are preparing to visit the Denver Broncos on Monday Night Football to cap the NFL's latest week and Toney, a familiar face to the AFC West foe, will be a part of the Browns' attack—either on offense or special teams. The Browns have served as Toney's NFL home for the entire 2024 season, albeit on the team's practice squad.

The Browns first promoted Toney in Week 11 for a game against the New Orleans Saints, but Toney registered only a single carry for negative-7 yards. Of course, it's possible that Toney remains inactive for this game despite being promoted from the practice squad, but if he's left available, it will be interesting to see what sort of looks a team like the Browns are wanting to give him going forward.

Toney will be familiar to Chiefs Kingdom as one of multiple young wide receivers who failed to work out as hoped despite the massive opportunity in front of them in the Chiefs' offense. Working alongside Travis Kelce while catching passes from Patrick Mahomes in Andy Reid's offense should be a dream come true for a young pass catcher but players like Toney and Skyy Moore couldn't find a way to produce despite the open door.

For Toney, the issues were much greater than a lack of productivity, however. His spotty injury history made it difficult for the team to even watch him progress. Dropped passes and mental miscues were part and parcel of the Toney experience, and at some point, clear fissures developed in the relationship between player and team when Toney claimed the Chiefs were lying about his injury status on a since-deleted Instagram post.

Toney had 27 catches for 169 receiving yards and 1 touchdown for the Chiefs in 2023. The former Florida product is still only 25 years old.