Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Kadarius Toney is not expected to play in Super Bowl LVIII against the San Francisco 49ers, ESPN reported on Sunday.
Toney, 25, last saw action in Kansas City’s 27-17 victory over the New England Patriots on Dec. 17 when he had two receptions for 5 yards. A hip injury has been listed as the primary reason keeping him out.
When asked on Tuesday whether Toney would play, Chiefs coach Andy Reid said, “We’ll see.” Reid noted Toney has “been practicing, we’ll just see whether he’s up or not.”
For his part, Toney claimed, “I’m not hurt, none of that. Hip, knee, nuh-uh,” in a viral Instagram Live post the morning of the AFC Championship Game. The Chiefs beat the host Baltimore Ravens 17-10 in the Jan. 28 matchup.
His comments were interpreted by some as an insinuation that the Chiefs were lying about his injury, but Toney told NFL Network on Tuesday that he was not attacking the Chiefs but rather his former team, the New York Giants.
“It kind of started like that,” Toney said in an interview with NFL Network on Tuesday. “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.”
Toney was a key part of the Chiefs’ fourth-quarter push to a 38-35 win over the Philadelphia Eagles in last year’s Super Bowl, catching a touchdown pass and returning a punt 65 yards to set up another. His punt return was the longest in Super Bowl history.
Toney, who is in his first full season with the Chiefs, had 27 receptions for 169 yards and a touchdown in 13 games (two starts) this season. He also had six punt returns for 58 total yards.
