Patrick Mahomes Backs Kadarius Toney Despite Rough Outing
Coming into their Week 1 matchup with the visiting Detroit Lions, the Kansas City Chiefs knew on somewhat abbreviated notice that they'd be taking the field without All-Pro tight end Travis Kelce. That left the door wide open for one or more members of the young wide receiver room to step up to help offset that loss, although that isn't quite what took place on Thursday night.
Of all Kansas City wideouts, it was a pair of veterans — Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Justin Watson — that emerged for brief stints. The former hauled in a pair of passes for 48 yards, with the latter matching his catch total and falling just three yards short as a pass-catcher. Behind them, rookie Rashee Rice had three receptions for 29 yards and a touchdown. The two most-hyped receivers, however, didn't accomplish anything close to what they set out to do.
All offseason, the Chiefs made a concerted effort to push the narrative that they believed Kadarius Toney could be their No. 1 receiver this season. The former New York Giant and Florida Gator then suffered a meniscus injury on the first full day of training camp, but he returned in time to debut alongside his teammates against Detroit. It was a nightmare of a game for Toney, though, as he caught just one pass for a single yard while also dropping multiple balls and having one of them result in an interception return touchdown for Lions rookie safety Brian Branch.
After the game, quarterback Patrick Mahomes did the exact opposite of throwing teammates such as Toney under the bus. Instead, he reiterated what he's been preaching for nearly a year: he always believes in the 24-year-old to rise to the occasion.
"Yeah, I mean, I have trust in KT," Mahomes said. "He missed a lot of training camp. He wanted to play and fought rehab hard so he could play. Stuff is not always going to go your way. Obviously, he would've wanted to catch a few of those in the game but I have trust that he's going to be that guy that I go to in those crucial moments, and he's going to make the catch and win us some seasons like he did last year. So we're going to continue to work him in, get him more and more reps, and I'm sure those drops will kind of disappear."
Per Jordan Dajani of CBS Sports, Toney has the highest drop rate (9.7%) among all wide receivers with at least 75 targets since 2021 (when he entered the league). Later credited with another drop, that percentage only climbed by the end of the night. Despite head coach Andy Reid indicating that these drops were uncharacteristic, this has been a theme for the former first-round pick in his young NFL career. That, combined with durability concerns, doesn't make him a very reliable option. Mahomes and company aren't giving up on him, though.
As far as fellow young receiver Skyy Moore is concerned, Mahomes described "missed connections" that led to the 2022 second-round pick not making much of an impact against the Lions. Mahomes, like he did with Toney, backed Moore as a talented pass-catcher and someone he believes can — and will — produce significant plays for the Chiefs on offense. On three targets, Moore didn't record a single catch on Thursday.
With all of that said, one bad game isn't going to keep Mahomes from maintaining an aggressive mentality or immense faith that his teammates will get the job done. He's shown that in the past, and he doubled down on it on Thursday. As the Chiefs prepare for a Week 2 outing down in Florida against the Jacksonville Jaguars, it's safe to assume that smoothing things out in the pass-to-catch process will be a focal point.
"I think they know that I'm going to keep firing it," Mahomes said. "So we'll try to get it fixed this next week and correct it going into this next game."
