KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Andy Reid said newly acquired wide receiver Kadarius Toney is healthy and the Kansas City Chiefs are looking forward to seeing him on their practice field this week.
“I’m not expecting him to learn the whole offense in a day,” the Chiefs coach said Monday in his first comments since the team traded with the New York Giants for Toney. “I think it will be a gradual process going forward, even though he is a smart kid, so I’m sure he’ll pick it up relatively fast.
“He hasn’t played for a few weeks here. So getting him back in the swing of things and the speed of it and all will be important, and then we’ll just see. But he’s a nice addition. I’m just not going to rush him into something that he’s not comfortable with or I’m not comfortable with.”
Toney hasn’t played since Week 2, when he injured his hamstring in the Giants’ win over the Carolina Panthers.
Reid said the Chiefs might use Toney as a kickoff or punt returner but otherwise wasn’t specific about a role for him. Wide receiver doesn’t appear to be a huge immediate need for the Chiefs. JuJu Smith-Schuster and Marquez Valdes-Scantling each had 100 yards and Mecole Hardman scored three touchdowns in the Chiefs’ most recent game against the San Francisco 49ers.
“We’ve got a handful of guys that are very capable, and I joke about it, but I mean, you have one football and you can only spread it around to one person at a time,” Reid said on Toney’s potential impact. “We try to [utilize] everybody’s strengths and then work on whatever weaknesses they have. That allows us to get guys in at least a decent position to do what we think they can do best.
“It won’t be any different with him than the other guys.”