The Chiefs beat the Patriots 27-17 on Sunday, but receiver Kadarius Toney had yet another costly error during the contest.
On the first play of a drive in the fourth quarter where the Chiefs were looking to put the Patriots away, quarterback Patrick Mahomes fired an accurate pass over the middle to Toney. The ball went off of Toney’s hands and into the waiting arms of linebacker Jahlani Tavai for an interception.
That set up a Patriots touchdown and was the last time Mahomes targeted Toney on the day.
Head coach Andy Reid was asked after the game if he had any plans to sit Toney given the consistent mistakes.
“We’ll see how things go. I’m not down on Toney,” Reid said in his press conference. “He does some good things, man, so we’ve just got to keep — he’s a young guy, so we’re not talking about somebody that has been in this league a long time.”
The 20th overall pick of the 2021 draft, Toney has 32 games of experience with 10 starts over the last three seasons. But his poor performance in key situations in 2023 is difficult to ignore. He’s caught just 27 passes for 169 yards in 13 games. His 11 carries for 31 yards have resulted in just two first downs. In Sunday’s game, Toney caught two passes on four targets for 5 yards.
Toney was on the field for 40 percent of Kanas City’s offensive snaps against New England. Reid may say he’s not down on Toney, but we’ll see what the snap counts look like next week when the Chiefs host the Raiders on Christmas Day.