The Kansas City Chiefs expect to have wide receiver Kadarius Toney and cornerback L’Jarius Sneed available when they play the Detroit Lions on Thursday night to kick off the NFL’s regular season.
Both of them are important players for Kansas City. The Chiefs paid a steep price to get the injury-prone Toney from the New York Giants, sending third- and sixth-round picks midway through last season.
And he proved to be dynamic in Reid’s creative offense, both running and catching the ball, but he continued to be slowed by a hamstring injury, missing three games in November and December. Toney was available throughout the postseason, though, catching five passes in the divisional round against Jacksonville and scoring a touchdown on a short throw in the Super Bowl to help Kansas City win its second title in four years. “I think he’s looked really good coming back here. He looks like he’s in shape and he stayed locked in with the playbook,” Nagy said before Monday’s practice. “We’ll just kind of let the flow of the game dictate, you know, how we use him and what we do with him. When you have seven guys, it enables you to do different things. He’s certainly going to be part of that.” Indeed, the Chiefs are exceptionally deep at wide receiver, despite having no bona fide stars on the roster, and Nagy said there’s a possibility that all seven of them are active on game day. Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Skyy Moore will get the most run along with Justin Watson and second-round pick Rashee Rice, who dealt with some drops in the preseason. Richie James will be available to handle punt and kickoff returns along with some work in the slot, and Justyn Ross provides Kansas City with a big red zone target they otherwise would be lacking. “You just want to see now when you have these guys, what are their strengths? You don’t know,” Nagy said. “Whatever they decide to do every week with the active wide receivers, we’ve got to make sure we have a plan.” That is a big challenge but not dissimilar from the one that faces Steve Spagnuolo, the Chiefs’ defensive coordinator. He is already poised to enter Week 1 without All-Pro defensive tackle Chris Jones, who’s in the midst of a holdout. But losing any of his cornerbacks, and especially Sneed given his experience in an otherwise young secondary, would cause significant problems for Spagnuolo and a team that could struggle to put much pressure on Lions quarterback Jared Goff.Trent McDuffie is coming off a strong rookie season and will start alongside Sneed on the outside, while Joshua Williams and Jaylen Watson will rotate in as the third cornerback. The Chiefs also have Nic Jones, who fractured fingers during the Chiefs’ first preseason game but stayed off injured reserve, and Darius Rush, who was claimed off waivers last week. “Hopefully we can play as a unit,” Spagnuolo said, “and our best players play really good, and all our other guys can play rock solid. I think can force you to make mistakes if you’re undisciplined, especially with younger guys. And if we don’t do that, it gives us a fighting chance.”The Associated Press is an independent global news organization dedicated to factual reporting. Founded in 1846, AP today remains the most trusted source of fast, accurate, unbiased news in all formats and the essential provider of the technology and services vital to the news business. More than half the world’s population sees AP journalism every day.
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