Overreaction No. 1: The Kadarius-WR1 dream is over
"I don’t know if there is a limit on his game"
"We have a lot of high hopes for him."
“I think the sky is the limit for him.”
Those are just a few ways Chiefs general manager Brett Veach responded to expectations regarding wide receiver Kadarius Toney in May. The team's free agency moves and subsequent draft signaled that Kansas City was not overly worried about the wide receiver room. Their performance on Thursday was the worst-case scenario for an unproven group, but even more so for Toney's prospects of leading the position.
Toney left the field Thursday with one catch for one yard, despite tying for the most targets on the team. He led the game in drops with three, already exceeding his total from the 2022 season. His drops affected the games in massive ways.
Butterfingers on a crossing route gave Lions rookie safety Brian Branch an easy pick-6, a score that proved to be the difference. A mesh route with Richie James caused another drop, causing more frustration around Toney. Things reached a boiling point when he dropped a pass that would've put Kansas City in field goal range with 2:29 left to play.
— not highlight heaven (@ABsneurosurgeon) September 8, 2023
Mahomes took it easy on Toney in the post-game presser, but what else was he supposed to do? Saying he still has "trust in Toney" despite his game-wrecking performance did little to assuage Chiefs fans.
"Obviously he would've wanted to catch a few of those in the game," Mahomes said. "But I've trusted he's going to be that guy that I go to in those crucial moments, and he's going to make the catch and win us some games like he did last year. So we're going to continue to work him in, get him more and more reps, and I'm sure that those drops will kind of disappear."
They better disappear. Toney was a liability on the field against Detroit, a stark contrast from his Super Bowl performance and impact there. The Chiefs have plenty of Jugs machines, and Toney needs to be camped in front of one until told otherwise. Until he shows fans, not just the Chiefs organization, that he can produce, Toney is nowhere near the limitless player Veach described.