Fantasy Alert: Kadarius Toney Taking Snaps with RBs at Chiefs Training Camp

Fantasy football players were surely disappointed in Kadarius Toney's 2023 season, but there may be reason for optimism in 2024.

After all, head coach Andy Reid told reporters Tuesday the "multi-faceted" Toney is working with the running backs at training camp ahead of the team's plans to use him in such a manner during the regular season.

"He had some positive snaps for us at running back last year," Reid pointed out.

Toney has been a disappointment to this point of his career, and nobody knows that better than fantasy football players who were intrigued enough by his upside, speed and opportunity to work with Patrick Mahomes to draft him ahead of the 2023 campaign.

The Florida product started his career as a 2021 first-round draft pick with the New York Giants and flashed some of his potential with 420 receiving yards as a rookie. However, New York traded him to the Chiefs in a second season that saw him appear in just nine total games.

Even with a lackluster 2022, there was reason for optimism heading into the 2023 season.

After all, he had a full offseason to work with Mahomes and the Kansas City offense. He also scored a touchdown in the team's Super Bowl LVII victory over the Philadelphia Eagles and had the opportunity to build on that.

Yet that optimism quickly faded as he finished last season with just 169 receiving yards and one touchdown to go with 11 carries for 31 yards. The lack of production was one thing, but he also made multiple high-profile mistakes that cost his team.

Toney deflected a pass to a defender for a pick-six in a Week 1 loss to the Detroit Lions and then lined up in the neutral zone to nullify what would have been the team's play of the season in a Week 14 loss to the Buffalo Bills when Travis Kelce caught a pass downfield and lateraled it to him for a touchdown.

He didn't play in the entire postseason after those mistakes and was a healthy scratch in the Super Bowl win over the San Francisco 49ers.

Attention now turns to the 2024 campaign, and Toney likely won't be a high fantasy draft pick considering Kelce, Rashee Rice, Marquise Brown and Xavier Worthy are all likely to see more targets than him in the Kansas City offense.

Yet working in with the running backs would give him a higher ceiling for those fantasy players who want to take a flier on him in the later rounds.