Chiefs Rumors: Trade for Chris Jones replacement, Toney solutions, Taylor Swift fit

Chiefs Rumors: WR coach addresses Kadarius Toney problem, possible fix

After trading for wide receiver Kadarius Toney at the deadline last season, Brett Veach and the Chiefs appeared to be intent on banking on the former first-round pick to be the team's No. 1 wide receiver. Whether or not you could consider Toney a WR1 based on his role and usage is another matter entirely, but the more important point is that the Chiefs have been unable to rely on the former Giant hardly at all.

Whether it was extremely costly drops in the Week 1 loss to the Lions, more issues with drops, the infamous offsides penalty, or a number of other boneheaded miscues, Chiefs fans have already rightfully begun looking to the future for receiver options.

At the same time, though, fans are left with two more questions specifically relating to Toney: What has led to all of these issues and, perhaps most crucially, what the Chiefs coaching staff and the player himself can do to remedy them? Wide receivers coach Connor Embree offered some clarity on that. While he told Arrowhead Report that he appreciates Toney's ability to block out the noise and move forward, he also pushed back on the notion of not meeting expectations and more.

"I wouldn't say it's like he hasn't lived up to the expectations," Embree said. "There've just been a couple plays throughout the season that, it just happened to be a big situation or something and he might have had an error, so I think it looks worse than his actual season as a whole, 'cause when I grade him out in games and stuff, it's not like he's getting an F grade every game, so I think it's more just kind of situational. When it happened, where it happened, that type of stuff."

In terms of how any issues, even if overblown, can be fixed, Embree said it would be difficult but certainly didn't seem to think Toney was a lost cause:

"That's probably the hardest thing, or the thing that keeps coaches up the most. You hear it all the time, people talk about, 'you remember the losses more than the wins,' so same type of thing. I don't think you can just point to one thing of why he's doing this or why it's happening, it's not from a lack of effort. I think more of it is from – he's trying to make plays. He's trying to catch the ball or move before he has the ball. It's not anything other than that, him out there trying to make plays for our team. Again, it's not from the lack of effort or the lack of want-to."

Toney has long been prodigiously talented in terms of his physical gifts and what he can offer to an offense since he was drafted by New York out of Florida. It, however, has never fully materialized in the NFL, even amidst some truly wowing flashes. It's at least mildly optimistic, though, that Embree and the Chiefs coaches don't sound wholly undeterred by the shortcomings Toney has put forth in his first full season in Kansas City.

Unfortunately, any turnaround will have to wait as Toney has already been ruled out for Week 16 against the Raiders.