How WR Kadarius Toney responds to Week 1 will define his Chiefs career

During the Kansas City Chiefs' Week 1 loss to the Detroit Lions, WR Kadarius Toney had a disastrous showing. We can confidently call it one of the worst individual performances by a wide receiver in the modern era. He finished the game with one catch on five targets for a single yard. It was as […]

Charles Goldman — NFL Managing Editor

Sep 8, 2023 2:01 PM EDT

During the Kansas City Chiefs' Week 1 loss to the Detroit Lions, WR Kadarius Toney had a disastrous showing.

We can confidently call it one of the worst individual performances by a wide receiver in the modern era. He finished the game with one catch on five targets for a single yard. It was as if he was allergic to the football and the football was allergic to him.

Even during what seemed like the most routine plays, Toney was unable to handle the football. The most notable occasion came on third down in the third quarter of the game. Patrick Mahomes hit Toney square in the hands. . .

That play winded up being popped up and a waiting Lions S Brian Branch intercepted the pass, taking it 50 yards for a defensive touchdown.

It was a surprise in the first place that Toney was healthy and active for Week 1 after having suffered a tear in his meniscus at the onset of training camp. He had the injury surgically repaired, but he missed the entirety of training camp and the preseason. That lack of practice and repetitions with his teammates was palpable.

“I have trust in (Kadarius) KT (Toney), Mahomes said. "He missed a lot of training camp. Obviously, he wanted to play and fought in rehab hard so he could play. Stuff is not always going to go your way. He would have wanted to catch a few of those in the game, but I have trust that he is going to be the 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. If we get him more and more reps, I’m sure that those drops will disappear.”

As the game went on, you could see Toney's frustration and struggles grow. To put the struggles into proper perspective, throwing the ball to Toney resulted in -2.19 EPA (Expected Points Added) per target. Taking a sack is the equivalent of -1.7 EPA per play. Basically, by the end of the game, it was more prudent for Mahomes to take a sack than it was to throw the ball to Toney.

The former first-round draft pick is taking a lot of heat on social media for his poor performance, and rightfully so. He has hardly been great at handling criticism during the course of his NFL career, and his feuds with New York Giants fans are well-documented.

How he responds to this performance and this loss will be a legacy-defining moment in his Chiefs career. Toney has two options. He can either succumb to the critics and continue his poor play, or he can rally with his teammates to become the receiver that they know he can be. It's easy to expect the former given his history to this point in the league.

We can only hope that the Chiefs' coaching staff has a good handle on Toney. That they tell him the best way to respond to that performance is to go out and do better next week. Knowing Andy Reid, fans can expect him to scheme up some opportunities for Toney to gain some confidence back as they head on the road to face the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 2.