Kadarius Toney rejuvenated with Chiefs: ‘I feel like I am right where I need to be’
Kansas City Chiefs WR Kadarius Toney is making the most out of his opportunity with his new team.
Toney appeared in his second career game with Kansas City in Week 10, after a nice debut with the team the week prior. He was expected to see a larger role this week, but that may have been an understatement after his game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
By the end of the game he’d recorded a team-leading 90 yards from scrimmage, the most targets (5) of any Chiefs receiver and he scored his first career NFL touchdown. It was a breakout performance in every sense of the word.
“It just felt electric in there (GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium),” Toney said following the game. “The reason I hopping was because I was too close to the sideline when I caught it and I just was excited. I saw the sideline (and I said), ‘Oh I got to hop. I get in there somehow some way.’ But it’s electric being out there, (with) all the fans around you, sitting on top of you, yelling at the opponent on top of you yelling at them. (The) quarterback (Patrick Mahomes) put me in the right position (to succeed).”
But what has enabled Toney to pick up the offense so quickly in Kansas City — especially one that is known as notoriously difficult for receivers to learn?
“Really just spending extra time doing what I got to do to make sure I know what I got to do,” Toney explained. “Like it’s my job to know what I have to do so why not spend every waking moment or every moment I got doing what I got to do.”
Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes backed him up on that comment too, making it abundantly clear that Toney has been putting in the work.
“Ever since he’s been here he’s got to be in that facility just as much as I have,” Mahomes said following the game. “I mean he’s making sure he knows the splits. He’s making sure he knows exactly the route combinations, the different audibles that we have on the offense. I mean when you have a guy that’s that talented that wants to learn and get better and better, those are those special players that you want on your team.”
Toney says that the fact that he scored his first NFL touchdown reception still hasn’t quite hit him yet. He reflected on it a little during the moment.
“As I was hopping I was just sitting there thinking like, ‘What did I do to be in this position? Like how can I thank God anymore?’ You know what I’m saying,” Toney explained. “To be here and do what I can.”
The outlook makes even more sense when you consider the story behind his jersey choice. He’s intent on making this opportunity count after things didn’t work out in his first NFL stop in New York.
Asked about whether he felt rejuvenated playing with his new football team, Toney made it clear that he’s now at home in Kansas City.
“Yeah, I feel like I’m right where I need to be,” Toney said.
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