KANSAS CITY, Mo. — No player in NFL history has ever had a longer punt return in a Super Bowl than the 65-yarder Kadarius Toney broke off early in the fourth quarter Sunday.
The Kansas City Chiefs, who acquired Toney in a late-October trade with the New York Giants, had just taken their first lead and the defense managed a three-and-out.
Toney had scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 5-yard pass from Patrick Mahomes and he was called on again with the Chiefs eager to keep its hard-earned momentum.
Arryn Siposs only managed a 38-yard punt with little hang time, which gave Toney a chance to return it.
He started probing to the left, reversed course and cut to the right sideline before turning up field with a convoy of blockers and plenty of open field ahead.
“It was a shank kick and an opportunity to make a play,” Toney said.
It also was a storybook ending to the season for Toney — a 2021 first-round pick who struggled to adjust, adapt and fit in with the Giants but seemingly found a home after the fresh start with the Chiefs.
“It’s like a Lifetime movie,” Toney said.
With the ball at the Philadelphia 5-yard line, Kansas City needed only three plays before Mahomes connected with rookie Skyy Moore for a touchdown to extend the lead.
"I joked with my brother and my dad before the game and I said, 'KT will have a big play," General Manager Brett Veach said. "That guy's special and he'll find a way to make the play ... but when he had the punt return I just thought, 'We're going to do this thing.'"
The Chiefs have to be thrilled with how that midseason trade worked out, especially after fourth-year speedster Mecole Hardman Jr. was ruled out after reinjuring his pelvis in the AFC Championship Game.
“I don’t know what the Giants were doing with KT, but he’s a dog,” fellow wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster said. “Veach and Andy Reid, they know how to pick and choose who to go get and fit into the puzzle of this team.”
