3 Chiefs Whose Jobs Still Aren't Safe After Surviving the Trade Deadline

Brett Veach chose to stand pat at the trade deadline, moving forward with the current Chiefs roster instead of making a splash at wide receiver despite speculation throughout the week that a move was coming.

While Kansas City did not make a trade, that does not mean that every player on the roster is safe. On the contrary, poor performances in recent weeks by several Chiefs leaves their job security perilously thin.

Here are three Chiefs whose jobs aren't safe despite surviving the trade deadline:

3 Chiefs Whose Jobs Still Aren't Safe After Trade Deadline

1. Kadarius Toney - Wide Receiver

We entered the year with massive expectations for Toney after the Chiefs touted him as a potential No. 1 wide receiver in the offseason, but it's been a rocky couple of months for the versatile wideout from the very beginning.

Toney has just 19 catches for 109 yards on the year and has been relegated to quick screen passes behind the line of scrimmage along with jet sweeps. Not so coincidentally, his snap count plummeted the last two weeks as well following the Chiefs' reunion with Mecole Hardman, a player who fills the same role.

At the time, I thought the Hardman trade was about Skyy Moore's disappointing production, but it's obvious that Toney is the odd man out moving forward.

The man responsible for the longest punt return in Super Bowl history saw just 19% of snaps in Week 7 and 20% in Week 8, while Hardman went from 16% to 36% in the same span.

Toney is an electric player, but inconsistency and frequent injuries make him unreliable. He feels too talented to sit on the bench, thought the Chiefs' actions over the last couple of weeks tell us otherwise.

Fingers crossed we see him attack down the field over the rest of the season, as he doesn't seem to have a role in the status quo.

There's a different wide receiver that's disappointed as well, and we have to see improvements from this player to avoid more disasters like the Week 8 loss to Denver.

2. Marquez Valdes-Scantling - Wide Receiver

The Chiefs don't have much of a choice at this point but to keep trotting Skyy Moore out there despite his struggles, though they don't have to keep playing Valdes-Scantling.

After popping in Week 7 for 84 yards and a TD in his only productive outing of the season, Valdes-Scantling immediately fell back to Earth in the Broncos loss. He caught just two of four targets for 27 yards and fumbled one of those catches, allowing Denver to take a 14-3 lead.

If you exclude the Chargers game, Valdes-Scantling has a pathetic nine catches for 143 yards through seven games. For a player with the sixth-highest salary cap hit on the entire roster, that's completely inexcusable.

Given the young players that'll need contracts in the near future like Nick Bolton, Creed Humphrey, Trent McDuffie and others along with potential negotiations for a Chris Jones extension, the Chiefs have to cut costs somewhere.

Valdes-Scantling was a hero in the AFC Championship game, but there's little reason for him to be in Kansas City next year. He's been one of the league's worst receivers this season and needs to turn things around in a hurry if he wants to stick around.

On the subject of saving money, one defensive player looks like an obvious salary cap casualty as well.

3. Justin Reid - Safety

Reid has the fifth-highest cap hit and simply has not produced at the level Brett Veach and the front office imagined when they brought him in to replace Tyrann Mathieu as a vocal leader in the secondary.

The Chiefs can get out of Reid's three-year contract after this season and I expect the organization to at least explore the possibility instead of taking his $14+ million cap hit.

While he did make a huge play in blocking a Denver field goal on Sunday, Reid was also beat deep by Jerry Jeudy and has routinely been out of position defending the run. Not coincidentally, run defense has been the lone wart for Kansas City's defense.

Pro Football Focus grades Reid as average, which won't cut it with his salary. He's been better in recent weeks, though he needs to keep improving to keep his spot on the roster in 2024.

Bryan Cook, a 2022 second-round pick, has been impressive while Mike Edwards is filling in nicely as well. Brett Veach's signature trait is finding players in the secondary at a discount, so it makes little sense to pay Reid over $14 million if he's just a mediocre player.

I'll be curious to see if Cook and Edwards' snaps increase throughout the rest of the season to prepare them for potentially taking over Reid's role next year.

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