Kadarius Toney played a big part in the Kansas City Chiefs’ 38-35 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LVII on Feb. 12, 2023. But now it’s no sure thing the former Blount High School quarterback will be on the team after Kansas City makes its cuts to reach the regular-season roster limit before the kickoff to the 2024 season.

After the Chiefs lost to the Chicago Bears 34-21 in their preseason finale on Thursday night (with Toney catching two passes for 26 yards), Kansas City coach Andy Reid was asked to assess the wide receiver’s training-camp and preseason work.

“We went through last year with him, so we kind of know what he is,” Reid said. “He’s a talented kid, and he’s in a battle to make the team and all that bit. But we’ve never questioned the talent there at all.”

In the NFL championship game for the 2022 season, Toney had the longest punt return in Super Bowl history with a 65-yarder to the Philadelphia 5-yard line to set up a touchdown in the fourth quarter less than three minutes after he had caught a TD pass.

Toney’s 5-yard touchdown reception with 12:04 remaining allowed Kansas City to take a 28-27 lead, and the advantage expanded to eight points thanks to his punt return.

The Chiefs won the NFL championship again for the 2023 season, but Toney did not contribute during the playoffs this time.

Toney had 27 receptions for 169 yards and one touchdown, gained 31 yards on 11 rushing attempts and averaged 9.7 yards on six punt returns. None of that production came after Kansas City’s 27-17 victory over the New England Patriots in the 14th game of the season on Dec. 17.

Toney did not play in the Chiefs’ final seven games and appeared to blast the organization on social media while Kansas City was playing in the AFC Championship Game. On an Instagram Live post on Jan. 28, Toney said he wasn’t hurt and seemed to accuse the Chiefs of fabricating his designations of hip and ankle injuries.

During Super Bowl Week, though, Toney said that wasn’t the case. He said his comments had been misconstrued and were intended for New York Giants fans. Toney has had a running social-media feud with Giants fans since his first NFL team traded him to Kansas City on Oct. 27, 2022.

Although Toney came off the injury report after 12 consecutive weekly appearances in time for Super Bowl LVIII, he still wasn’t active for Kansas City’s 25-22 victory over the San Francisco 49ers on Feb. 11.

In Toney’s most recent regular-season appearance, he had two receptions for 5 yards and dropped a pass that ended up being intercepted by New England. That play was reminiscent of Toney’s drop in the season-opener that rookie Brian Branch returned 50 yards for a pick-six in the Detroit Lions’ 21-20 victory.

On Dec. 10, an offside penalty against Toney wiped out what might have been the Play of the Year in the NFL – a 49-yard touchdown with 1:12 remaining on which Toney covered the final 20 yards on a backward pass from tight end Travis Kelce. Kansas City lost the game 20-17 to the Buffalo Bills.

Those incidents and the postseason outburst caused speculation that Kansas City wouldn’t carry Toney into training camp, but he’s among the 13 wide receivers seeking to transition from the preseason roster to the regular-season roster.

Kansas City must have its current 90-player roster down to 53 active players by 3 p.m. CDT Tuesday. It hasn’t helped Toney’s cause that he missed time early in camp with a leg injury.

Toney was an All-State quarterback at Blount High School in Prichard, and he won the Alabama Sports Writers Association’s Class 6A Back of the Year Award for the 2016 season. In his final two seasons at Blount, Toney threw for 6,498 yards and 69 touchdowns and ran for 1,790 yards and 31 touchdowns.

Toney made the conversion to wide receiver at Florida, where he caught 70 passes for 984 yards and 10 touchdowns, ran for 161 yards and one touchdown on 19 carries and returned 11 punts for an average of 12.6 yards and one TD as a senior.

New York selected Toney at No. 20 in the 2021 NFL Draft. Heplayed in 12 of the Giants’ next 24 games with 41 receptions for 420 yards, five runs for 29 yards and one punt return for zero yards. Toney had not scored an NFL touchdown when New York traded him to Kansas City for third- and sixth-round picks in the 2023 NFL Draft.

In 20 regular-season games with the Chiefs, Toney has the same number of receptions that he had with the Giants, and the 41 catches have produced 340 yards and three touchdowns for Kansas City. He also has 90 yards and one touchdown on 16 rushing attempts and 16 punt returns for a 7.4-yard average.

In three postseason games with the Chiefs, Toney has seven receptions for 50 yards and one touchdown, a 14-yard run and six punt returns for an 18.7-yard average.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.