The Kansas City Chiefs got a brief taste of their newest offensive weapon in the Week 9 win over the Tennessee Titans.
They had a very specific plan for Toney in his first week with the team, but they’re now looking to build on that performance moving forward. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Chiefs HC Andy Reid was asked whether it was reasonable to expect his workload to increase week over week.
“Yeah, we wanted to get him 10 or so reps and just kind of get him going a little bit,” Reid said. “So, he’ll get more as we go here. I want to see how he does this week.”
Toney has the potential to see some more opportunity within the offense this week as WR Mecole Hardman has sat out the last two practice sessions with an abdominal injury. Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy preached the “next man up” mentality with Hardman’s injury, but wouldn’t go so far as to say that Toney could specifically fill Hardman’s role. There’s an element of gamesmanship as the team continues to explore what Toney can and can’t do.
“Well, if I told you everything he could do I’d be letting the cat out of the bag right,” Bieniemy said of Toney. “Let’s just say this. We’re coaching all of our guys to be out there and be at their best when their best is needed. So, whatever role that he needs to wear or whatever hat that he needs to wear, hell, if we need him to go play quarterback — him, Mecole (Hardman), Clyde (Edwards-Helaire), any of them — they’ll go out and do the best that they can do.”
For a veteran receiver like JuJu Smith-Schuster, he thinks that Toney’s Week 9 performance speaks to what’s to come in the future.
“I think he’s doing great,” Smith-Schuster said. “We kind of coached (him). First week he gets here, he’s in there. As you can see, he’s making plays for us and I think as time goes on, you’ll see him in there more and making more plays. As he’s learning, he’s come a long way. I would say, he’s very smart. He’s good at what he does. He knows how to get open, he knows spaces. So, that’s good.”
