Super Bowl LVIII: Will Kadarius Toney play against the 49ers in the big game after injury controversy?

The 25-year-old receiver Kadarius Toney’s promising start with the Kansas City Chiefs hasn’t translated into a smooth 2023 season. After missing opportunities on the field and the need for temporary social media deactivation, he has been sidelined for a significant portion of the season with persistent injury issues.

As the Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers descend upon Las Vegas for the highly anticipated Super Bowl LVIII, the focus has shifted to the uncertain status of Chiefs’ receiver Kadarius Toney.

Is Kadarius Toney going to play in the Super Bowl LVIII?

Despite his recent participation in practices, head coach Andy Reid has not definitively confirmed Toney’s role in Sunday’s championship clash.

Toney has been practicing, but Andy Reid hasn’t confirmed whether he’ll be active or play a significant role in Sunday’s championship game due to injury concerns or tactical decisions.

“We’ll see how that goes. He’s been practicing. We’ll just see whether he’s up or not,” Reid said.

Toney’s absence from the field dates back to Week 15 against the New England Patriots, and he has remained inactive throughout the end of the regular season and into the AFC playoffs. The AFC title game saw Toney ruled out due to a hip injury. It also compounded personal reasons as he celebrated the birth of his child over the past weekend.

In the divisional round matchup against the Buffalo Bills, Toney unfortunately had to sit out due to hip and ankle injuries, even though he was listed as a limited participant in practice leading up to the game.

His season has seen a small uptick in performance, but he has unfortunately been plagued by a string of injuries, resulting in him sitting out six consecutive games. There were some challenges that went beyond health concerns for the 25-year-old, including difficulties with dropped passes.

Throughout the regular season, Toney recorded one touchdown and amassed 169 yards on 27 receptions from 38 targets. Despite the challenges, Toney played a pivotal role in the Chiefs’ victory over the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LVII, contributing a touchdown and a remarkable 65-yard punt return to set up another score in the fourth quarter, per Bleacher Report.

Kadarius Toney claims IG rant wasn’t about Chiefs

Kadarius Toney was in hot water after a controversial Instagram Live session that featured a profanity-laced rant directed towards the Chiefs team. However, he clarified that his initial intention was to address his injury situation, but he got sidetracked while trying to express himself.

“It kind of started like that. In the process of that, I got interrupted so it got like a mixed message behind it, I guess you could say. Then, a lot of footage got chopped up in the release, so it made it like I was attacking doing what I love the most… I never attacked the Chiefs, never said anything about the Chiefs. Who I was referring to was the Giants fans and the people in my comment box, not even on my live recording, so you wouldn’t even know they were there. But I was referring to them, which I shouldn’t have,” explained Toney regarding the incident.

The controversy stemmed from an Instagram Live session where the WR expressed frustration over his injury designations on the Chiefs’ official injury reports changing multiple times. The video went viral on the Sunday of the AFC Championship Game, with Toney asserting, “I’m not hurt. None of that.”

The Chiefs head coach addressed the social media uproar surrounding Toney’s remarks, albeit without offering much clarity on the subject. 

“I actually haven’t seen it. I’ve heard people talk about it. Yeah, he’ll be back out there and we’ll see how he does.”

Despite the controversy, the Chiefs are hopeful to have Toney back on the field for their upcoming showdown against the 49ers on Sunday.