KC Chiefs’ looming challenge: how to manage injury-prone Super Bowl hero Kadarius Toney
If you didn’t already know what a singularly exhilarating talent Kadarius Toney is, you couldn’t avoid it after one incredible, indelible moment in Super Bowl LVII.
With a swarm of Philadelphia Eagles descending on him, you may recall, Toney lunged some just to catch the punt.
Then he pivoted, stutter-stepped and pulled off something like a do-si-do before abruptly peeling out behind a wall of blockers and into the longest punt return (65 yards) in Super Bowl history.
Shown a frame of the play on a cell phone in the locker room afterward, Toney said he saw not Eagles jerseys but “blood in the water. … I know what I can do with the ball in my hands. Not a surprise.”
The play was vital to the 38-35 victory over the Eagles. And it was vivid testimony to his capacity to move in mysterious ways.
That return and his touchdown reception that night served not merely to make him a star of the game but as would-be portents of so much more to come for the 24-year-old.
Enough so that the Chiefs’ acquisition of the New York Giants’ 2021 No. 1 draft pick (20th overall) last season had some hint of a fleecing of the Giants, who received only a 2023 compensatory third-round pick and sixth-round pick for Toney.
Turns out it wasn’t as simple as that, at least in this sense: The Giants by all appearances had become weary and wary of one glaring ability Toney lacked while there — avail-ability.
With ample reason, as it happens, when it comes to precarious Kadarius — who seems to be afflicted with the pre-existing condition of being injury prone.
That exasperating X-factor in his game surfaced soon after he arrived in Kansas City, with Toney suffering a hamstring injury in his third game that forced him to miss the next three.
And now this: The tendency bubbled up in stupefying fashion on Sunday when he suffered a knee injury in a pre-practice punt return drill on the first day of full-squad practices.
As of Tuesday, what coach Andy Reid originally called a “tweak” of Toney’s knee was termed a partially torn meniscus that required surgery to repair.
Let the speculation begin on what that means.
“There’s a chance (he’ll be back) for the first game, but we’ll see,” said Reid, calling Toney “bound and determined” to be ready by then and again adding, “We’ll see how it goes.”
If this has an ominous sound to it, well, maybe that’s just being paranoid.
After all, Reid made sense when he says best that this happened now.
On the presumption the process is as simple as it sounds with no further complications, the implication was that the issue was something that was looming rather than something that suddenly seized him in the moment.
So, could be that Toney gets this cleaned up and, presto, he’s coming into his own in his first full season with Reid’s elaborate playbook.
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who has been as dazzled as anyone by Toney’s potential, also is encouraged that Toney continues to attend meetings and study film and suggested those are indications that his “head’s right.”
Just the same, it’s worrisome.
Because it’s at least slightly reminiscent of another spectacular local talent who could make you hold your breath in anticipation of what he might do at any given time … and also make you hold your breath that, given time, another sidelining injury awaits.
Now, Toney’s story already is different than that of Adalberto Mondesi, the freakishly talented Royal whose once-promising career has been so undone by injuries as to have a tinge of the tragic to it. The Royals in January traded Mondesi to the Red Sox, who shut him down for the season in May.
Albeit in limited doses, Toney delivered in meaningful ways toward a Super Bowl run and victory.
Trading for him, particularly on the terms the Chiefs got him, will always be part of the story of that team.
And it may well be part of their story for years to come.
The question now, though, is how much should the Chiefs moderate their inclinations and expectations for him in the near future.
First of all, they already have the ability to redirect with Travis Kelce and the likes, as Mahomes listed Tuesday, of Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Skyy Moore, Rashee Rice and Justin Watson.
Among several other receivers (and tight ends and backs) who will have a chance to earn Reid and Mahomes’ trust.
Sure, they liked the idea of focusing more on Toney. But Reid and Mahomes are nothing if not nimble and adaptable offensively, we’ve seen time and time again.
That was perhaps most emphatically demonstrated a year ago after they dealt Tyreek Hill and went from fourth in scoring in the NFL to first — and from losing the AFC Championship Game to winning their second Super Bowl in four years.
Knowing all that, it’s not like a ceiling for Toney needs to be defined now.
But upon his return, whenever that may be, the Chiefs will need to be realistic about a dilemma: how to contour his role toward its greatest potential impact and navigate the risk-reward going forward.
Irresistible force that he might be, Toney is going to require some restrained load management unless and until he proves otherwise.
Yes, the Chiefs very much need a presence like him. But even when he may again appear healthy, they will be well-served not to over-expose him.
If that sounds like an inexact science, it surely will be. Just the same, best they seek the fine line.
Because his long-term value just may be most discernible in unforgettable bursts at the most crucial times.
“He was that piece for us in the Super Bowl …” Kelce said Monday. “We miss that guy already.”