Report: Chiefs Trade for Former First-Round Wide Receiver
In this story:
The Kansas City Chiefs went all-in on rebuilding their wide receiver group during the offseason and despite seeing the group come together nicely over the last few weeks, the team is adding even more talent to the room. Per Jordan Schultz of theScore, Kansas City is sending a third-round pick and a sixth-round pick to the New York Giants in exchange for wide receiver Kadarius Toney.
While Schultz's report indicates that the third-round selection is a conditional third-rounder, Ben Standig of The Athletic reports that the offering is a compensatory selection. Tom Pelissero of NFL Network also adds that the third-rounder is not conditional. The Chiefs have one of those (in addition to their own third-rounder that was normally issued) due to Ryan Poles joining the Chicago Bears organization. With ample future picks to work with, general manager Brett Veach adds an intriguing talent to the mix in Kansas City in exchange for projected Day Two and Day Three draft capital.
Toney, a 2021 first-round pick, was a standout in college at Florida and hauled in 120 passes for 1,590 yards and 12 touchdowns during his career. Nearly 1,000 of those yards and a whopping 10 of those receiving touchdowns came during his senior campaign. The athletic wideout parlayed that performance into a high draft slot and while his rookie season with the Giants didn't necessarily go as planned, Toney still flashed some of the ability he has.
A tumultuous start, but some positives
In 10 games (four starts) last year, Toney caught 39 passes on 57 targets for 420 yards but didn't score a touchdown. This season, he's played in two games and has two receptions for no yards with a pair of rushes for 23 yards. Injuries have limited his availability early in his career. Leading up to last year's draft, here's what I wrote about some of the best parts of Toney's profile:
Kadarius Toney is an explosive player who makes defenses pay for their mistakes. He's an elite-level athlete with excellent long speed, impressive agility, and acceleration that makes him difficult to cover one-on-one. He garners plenty of yards after the catch due to his athletic profile and breaks more tackles than a man of his size should.
While Toney is better suited to be a slot receiver at the next level, he has enough size to play on the perimeter as an "X" (X-WR). With that said, a lot of his value stems from being involved in screens, jet sweeps and/or reverses out of the slot. His strength should play well in the NFL, although he does his best work when given ample space to operate.
Special teams ability?
In addition to his explosiveness and athleticism serving as reasons to monitor his progress on offense, he also doubles as a possible special teams contributor. Nate Taylor of The Athletic reports on Thursday morning and that the 23-year-old "could be a factor later this season on special teams as a potential returner." With rookie Skyy Moore struggling to field punts through seven games, that option could benefit Kansas City in the long run.
Assessing the Chiefs' receiver depth
Now on his second team in as many seasons, Toney joins a Chiefs squad that has the likes of JuJu Smith-Schuster, Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Mecole Hardman leading the way. Smith-Schuster has been a strong performer in recent weeks and as of the Chiefs' Week 8 bye, his 494 receiving yards lead the group and trail only tight end Travis Kelce on the entire team. Behind him are Valdes-Scantling (369) and Hardman (218) in that order.
Elsewhere, Toney could compete with players such as Moore and Justin Watson at some point this season. Neither of those players has done a ton to separate from the pack on offense, and Toney's athletic profile makes him an interesting option for the Chiefs despite his career getting off to a slow start. With Toney still having played less than a full season's worth of games to this point, Kansas City is clearly banking on his upside and potential with this move.
