The Kansas City Chiefs will be without a key weapon during training camp, but some upside to the injury timeline ices the sting.
The Kansas City Chiefs are kicking off training camp, hopeful it’s the first step in a lengthy pursuit to defend their Super Bowl victory from February.
Back in January and February, injuries defined their path to and through the big game, with quarterback Patrick Mahomes nursing a sprained ankle that was watched closer than any sprained ankle in the history of mankind, and Isiah Pacheco playing through a laundry list of ailments, some the public didn’t find out about until months later.
In addition to Mahomes and Pacheco, JuJu Smith-Schuster, L’Jarius Sneed and Kadarius Toney were all questionable at one point after Championship Weekend, but did get activated prior to the big game against the Philadelphia Eagles.
The latter of that grouping comes into the year with further issues on the injury front.
Kadarius Toney will miss Chiefs training camp, return timeline revealed
After Kadarius Toney went through with a procedure on his knee this offseason, he re-injured it and is reported to miss at least the start of training camp, according to Adam Schefter.
Chiefs’ WR Kadarius Toney — who underwent an off-season cleanup procedure on his knee — aggravated the injury Sunday while fielding a punt and is expected to miss some time during training camp but be ready for the start of the regular season, per league source.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) July 24, 2023
As Schefter reports, Toney is expected to be ready for the start of the regular season. The wording seems to imply there’s little chance that Toney will be ready at any point during training camp.
Even if he is, the Chiefs may decide it’s best to keep him on the shelf for the duration to eliminate the risk of further injury.
Toney, a mid-season acquisition in a trade with the New York Giants last year, was a quality find for the Chiefs. Kansas City sent out two picks located at 100 and 209 for Toney, a sophomore player originally drafted in the first round. He wasn’t used properly in New York and found his footing with the Chiefs as both a receiver and a return man, a role he played in Florida as well. He scored a touchdown in the big game, and figures to be a growing part of the Chiefs offense.
Training camp would have been a great opportunity for Mahomes and Toney to gel and generate a preseason relationship, something they haven’t been able to do yet during his KC tenure. Instead, the two may not have a chance to build any on-field chemistry until the season is nearly here.