Wide receiver Kadarius Toney is not going to be playing for the Kansas City Chiefs in Sunday’s AFC Championship Game, with that marking the sixth-straight game he’s missed. But exactly why he’s missing that game is a matter of some debate.
In their official injury report Saturday, the Chiefs listed Toney as out thanks to a hip injury (the designation previously cited) as well as personal reasons (which was new). And Saturday night saw those personal reasons described as him being there for the birth of his first child. But on Sunday, Toney went absolutely off on the team in an expletive-filled Instagram Live rant, saying they’re lying about his injury and that this is cap-related. Here’s the rant (listener discretion advised):
Kadarius Toney on live saying the chiefs are lying about his injury 😠pic.twitter.com/vrqDWexuTi
— Devin (@devindoob) January 28, 2024
Some (edited) highlights of that:
‘F*** out of here. All these p****** try to play me. B****-a** n******. …I don’t f*** with y’all. …Y’all reading this cap-a** s***, you can believe it, I don’t give a f***. …Man, this s***-a** cap. I’m not hurt. None of that s***. Ain’t that s***. Suck my d***. I’m good. I’m not hurt, none of that. …It go from hip to ankle to this to that.”
There have long been disputes over the accuracy of NFL injury reporting, and those have become even more significant in an era of increased legalization of sports gambling (and official league partnerships there). But it’s wild to see a player claim a team is lying about his injury status, and it’s stranger still to see that tied into a very obvious legitimate personal reason for him to miss a game. And it’s amusing how this came right after the team wishing Toney a happy birthday:
HBD to our guy, KT 🥳 pic.twitter.com/6eqO7f0mlB
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) January 27, 2024
The 24-year-old Toney is in his second season with the Chiefs. He was selected by the New York Giants in the first round (20th overall) of the 2021 NFL Draft following a college career at Florida, then was traded to Kansas City in the middle of the 2022 season in exchange for a third-round pick and a sixth-round pick. He played in seven games for the Chiefs last year (after two with the Giants), starting three, and appeared in 13 regular-season games for Kansas City this year, starting two and making 27 catches for 169 yards and a touchdown (and being featured in a CBS Christmas Day graphic mocking the Chiefs’ receivers drops). We’ll see what’s ahead for him after this bold claim.
