Travis Kelce insinuates Kadarius Toney's injury is serious
By Matt Conner
When the Kansas City Chiefs returned to the field on Sunday for the first day of training camp, it didn't take long for the injury bug to strike as wide receiver Kadarius Toney was sidelined after just a few reps in practice.
Toney left Chiefs practice on Sunday, the first official day for training camp at Missouri Western State University, after "tweaking" his knee while going through return drills early in the day. At the time, the framing of the news made it seem as if the team was being cautious with Toney and that he might be able to return in short order.
On Monday, Travis Kelce's description of the injury intimated something different.
Travis Kelce with a bit of an injury report on Kadarius Toney. Says he’s crossing his fingers to get him back as soon as possible, whether it’s for the beginning of the season or a few weeks in.
— Matt Derrick (@mattderrick) July 24, 2023
Definitely sounds like Toney will be missing some time.
At this point, nothing is official and it's irresponsible to run with this too far in any direction other than to say that Kelce is definitely pointing toward a more serious injury and that further updates will be needed to confirm it. It's also possible that Toney might be just fine when all is said and done knowing that the regular season doesn't even begin for the Chiefs until September 9—and even then, if he misses that first week, he'll get another 10 days to rest after that before Week 2.
The primary concern here is not about this single injury to Toney but what this means for his overall dependabilits for the roster. This is a wide receiver unit for the Chiefs that has watched Tyreek Hill get traded away, JuJu Smith-Schuster sign with the New England Patriots, and Mecole Hardman sign with the New York Jets. While the Chiefs have some solid young receivers in the room, the Chiefs have also allowed a lot of talent to leave.
Any loss of Toney for a considerable amount of time also places additional pressure on young, unproven players like second-year wideout Skyy Moore or rookie receiver Rashee Rice to step up their readiness level, for better or worse.
The Chiefs dealt for Kadarius Toney less than a year ago before the 2022 NFL trade deadline in a trade with the New York Giants that sent third- and sixth-round picks away from K.C. In parts of 7 games for the Chiefs, Toney had 14 catches for 171 yards and 2 touchdowns.