The Kansas City Chiefs will be without three of their veteran playmakers when they face off against their hated division rivals in the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday. Kadarius Toney, Jerick McKinnon and Mecole Hardman were ruled out for Sunday’s game.

Kadarius Toney, who practiced in full on Friday was declared out with an ankle/hip injury as reported by Ian Rapoport on Saturday afternoon. Toney is another Chiefs wide receiver who has had a hard time finding consistent playing time, Toney is only averaging 23.8% snap share. To add to this, Toney has not been efficient when he is on the field, in 10 games played this season, Toney has 30 targets, for 22 receptions,139 yards, and 1 touchdown. Toney has struggled with drops and staying healthy this season and his troubles look to continue as he will be sitting out in this important divisional game. 

Jerick McKinnon will not play on Sunday, the Chiefs seem to be playing it cautious by protecting their aging veteran running back in the hopes of ramping up his play as they head into the playoff push. The Chiefs have been limiting the 31 year old this season, he is only playing 31% of the snaps so far this year. McKinnon hasn’t produced much for fantasy purposes to start the year ranking 56th in fantasy points per game. Look for the Chiefs to lean on the run this week when they face the Raiders who give up an average of 132 yards per game on the ground. In addition, the Raiders could be without their best defensive playmaker in Maxx Crosby who is doubtful to play on Sunday with a knee injury. With the McKinnon and the Crosby news, look for Isiah Pacheco to be a smash play this week and finish as a top 12 running back, with Clyde Edwards-Helaire getting more involved as well. 

Mecole Hardman injured his thumb during the Chiefs Monday night game vs the Eagles and has been placed on injured reserve. Since joining back with the Chiefs, Hardman has been the least active of the 6 Chiefs wide receivers, playing only 23.5% of the snaps. In the 4 games Hardman has played for the Chiefs he has only managed 8 catches for 41 yards, barely noteworthy. Hardman will be missed more on special teams than he will be on offence this week. 

Look for the Chiefs to continue their carousel at wide receiver, rotating them throughout the game. With all the injuries, this could be the week we see a wide receiver play more than 70% of the snaps. Justin Watson was a popular waiver wire pick up this week after his 11 target game vs the Eagles and could be emerging as the most reliable Chiefs pass catcher. Watson and Rashee Rice could see a bump but are nothing more than WR3/Flex plays in a tough matchup vs a good Raiders pass defense this week.