Chiefs acquire Giants WR Toney for two picks

The Kansas City Chiefs acquired wide receiver Kadarius Toney from the New York Giants for two 2023 draft picks on Thursday.

Headed to the Giants are a third-round conditional draft pick (Kansas City received the pick when the Chicago Bears hired Ryan Poles as their general manager earlier this year) and a 2023 sixth-round selection.

The Giants said the trade is pending Toney passing a physical.

Toney never seemed to be on solid ground with the new regime led by coach Brian Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen. Other teams were under the impression that Toney’s services could be had for the right price this offseason, even though Schoen insisted he never “shopped” the talented receiver.

“We just thought it was for the best of the team,” Daboll said. “Wish Kadarius well.”

Taken in the first round by the Giants in the 2021 NFL draft, Toney is under contract through the 2024 season with a fifth-year option for the 2025 season.

Toney has missed the Giants’ past five games because of hamstring injuries. He told reporters last week that his return has been delayed because he believes he tried to come back from an injury to his right hamstring too soon and injured his left hamstring.

Toney originally injured his right hamstring during training camp. He tweaked that same hamstring in a Week 2 win over the Carolina Panthers. The hamstring injury to his left leg occurred during an Oct. 5 practice.

The Chiefs have a bye this week, giving Toney another week to recover.

On Thursday, however, Toney indicated on Twitter that he isn’t injured.

“That Joke Would’ve Been Funny If I Was Actually Hurt Still Lol…..Irrelevant people don’t get updates,” he wrote.

The tweet was later deleted.

Toney was of the belief that his hamstring was good, multiple sources told ESPN’s Jordan Raanan. But the Giants wanted to play it conservatively, especially considering they’re on a bye next week.

There was a meeting Wednesday about his health. As it turned out, Toney was traded the following morning.

The Giants had wanted to make sure he was healthy for the stretch run, which includes three games in 11 days after the bye.

“Definitely. He was definitely, I would say, probably a little bit ahead of me [health-wise], since he was out before me,” said wide receiver Kenny Golladay, who is dealing with a knee injury and had been rehabbing on a side field with Toney. “If he says he was healthy, he was healthy. I can’t really judge how his body is.”

Giants players were preparing to walk out for practice Thursday when they saw Toney get changed into street clothes. At that point, many of them found out he was traded. Daboll told the players at the start of practice and explained it as doing what was best for the team, a source told Raanan.

Toney has two catches for zero yards this season. He has had a rough start to his NFL career, missing 12 of a possible 24 career games because of a variety of injuries and a bout with COVID-19. He has 41 catches for 420 yards in the 12 games he has played.

He joins a wide receiver room in Kansas City that was revamped in the offseason after Tyreek Hill was traded to the Miami Dolphins. JuJu Smith-Schuster (494 yards) and Marquez Valdes-Scantling (369 yards) were added in free agency and are ranked second and third in receiving yards for the Chiefs this season, behind star tight end Travis Kelce (553 yards).

The Chiefs appear set with their top three receivers for the remainder of this season. Smith-Schuster and Valdes-Scantling each went over 100 yards and Mecole Hardman scored three touchdowns in Sunday’s victory over the San Francisco 49ers.

In the longer term, the Chiefs have work to do at the position. Smith-Schuster is on a one-year contract, and Hardman is in the final season of the rookie contract he signed in 2019.

The acquisition of Toney continues a recent pattern for the Chiefs under general manager Brett Veach. Over the past few years, the Chiefs have brought in other high-round draft picks at minimal cost, including linebacker Reggie Ragland, offensive lineman Cameron Erving and cornerback DeAndre Baker.

ESPN’s Adam Teicher contributed to this report.

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