Chiefs GM reveals the Kadarius Toney trade with NY was months in the making
Well, it looks like a lot of NY Giants fans owe Pat Leonard an apology after all. Last spring, the Big Blue insider reported that the G-Men were looking to trade wide receiver Kadarius Toney, but not a lot of people believed him.
General manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll stood by Toney’s side, until he was eventually traded after the season got started. As it turns out, the Kansas City Chiefs were hoping to land Toney back right around when Leonard dropped his report.
Chiefs general manager Brett Veach revealed he wanted the former first-round pick way before he was able to get a deal done with the G-Men, but Schoen wasn’t impressed with what they were putting on the table.
@young_lexx1897 this sounds like we owe Pat Leonard an apology tbh lol
— James🤨 (@cjherrera06) February 14, 2023
The Kansas City Chiefs always wanted to trade with the Giants for Kadarius Toney
In the end, the Chiefs put a third-round pick and a sixth-round pick in front of Schoen ahead of the 2022 NFL trade deadline, and the first-year NY GM ended up taking that deal. At the time, people had mixed feelings about trading the speedster out of Florida, but he just couldn’t stay healthy while in East Rutherford.
Toney also battled some injury issues with the Chiefs after he made his way to the AFC West, but that didn’t stop him from putting on a show in the Super Bowl win over the Eagles. In the fourth quarter alone, Toney caught a touchdown pass from Patrick Mahomes and he also set a Super Bowl record with his 65-yard punt return.
That return from Toney felt like a turning point in the game, as it set up a short touchdown toss from Mahomes to rookie Skyy Moore. Things never worked out for Toney with Big Blue, and Veach was more than ready to give him a fresh start with the Chiefs.
It clearly took Veach and the KC front office longer than expected to land him, but that move sure paid off for them after all.
