Kadarius Toney has walked back negative comments he made on Instagram Live ahead of the Chiefs’ AFC championship clash against the Ravens.
Kansas City ruled out the 25-year-old receiver for personal reasons (the birth of his first child a day earlier) as well as a hip injury.
Toney last appeared in the team’s Week 15 victory over the Patriots on December 17. But while the Chiefs have cited hip and ankle injuries for Toney’s absences, he didn’t entirely agree with that assessment, as he stated on an expletive-filled Instagram. Live video.
“I’m not hurt” he saidand adds: “It goes from the hip to the ankle, from this to that.”
The first day of Super Bowl week, though Toney took a different tone with reporters.
“I would never attack the Chiefs, I never said anything about the Chiefs,” Toney said Monday. “Who I was referring to was Giants fans, whoever the people were in my commentary box, not even on my live recording, so you wouldn’t even know they were there.
“I shouldn’t have done that. At the end of the day, I’m a man, and at the end of the day, I can accept my mistakes just like I accept my victories. I’m just getting over that right now.”
In an interview with Michael Robinson, Chiefs WR Kadarius Toney explains his strange Instagram Live video, which was posted on the day of the AFC Championship Game. pic.twitter.com/vuLvDpujnm
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Toney’s apparent insolence prompted a response from head coach Andy Reid. Reid offered his two cents in Toney’s comments on Instagram Live the day after Kansas City punched its ticket to the Super Bowl with its AFC championship win against the Ravens.
“It’s been on the injury report, [so] that part is not compensated in any way,” Reid told reporters, according to ESPN.
Toney is back in practice and is available for selection for the Super Bowl. Whether he plays is a different question for the 25-year-old, whose role has been significantly reduced compared to the one he seemed destined to play when he first came to Kansas City via trade in 2022.
