The Kansas City Chiefs suffered another blow to their offense last week when Rashee Rice was carted off in the first quarter against the Los Angeles Chargers.
What happened to Rice, and what is the latest update on his status? Is there any chance that he can play tonight against the New Orleans Saints on Monday Night Football?
The Latest on Rashee Rice’s Injury
After throwing an interception, Patrick Mahomes dove into Rice’s knee while trying to make a tackle.
Rashee Rice gets injured trying to make a tackle after this Patrick Mahomes INT pic.twitter.com/wgn05fsvt8
— Pro Football Network (@PFN365) September 29, 2024
After the game, initial reports were that the Chiefs feared Rice tore his ACL.
On the one hand, the physical ACL test is 99% accurate. If Rice tore his ACL, the team should have known right away. It’s extremely rare for information like this to remain confidential.
On the other hand, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid has maintained that the injury is “not good.” It’s possible that Rice avoided an ACL tear, but even something lesser like a torn LCL would still keep him out for several months.
On Tuesday, he will undergo a procedure to determine the extent of his injury. While there’s optimism that the injury isn’t as bad as the team initially thought, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that he will likely still be sidelined for the remainder of the season.
It’s unlikely that Chiefs WR Rashee Rice will play again this season, but doctors will not know for sure until they perform surgery Tuesday morning, per source. https://t.co/wjb1RiEdfd
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 7, 2024
At this point, the only thing we know for sure is that Rice is not returning to the field anytime soon. This part is not speculation. The Chiefs recently placed Rice on injured reserve, meaning he’ll miss at least the next four games.
Fantasy Outlook For Rice and Xavier Worthy
You hate to see it. Every injury hurts to watch, but a star receiver getting banged up while having to play defense following an interception is a different sort of pain.
We will see exactly where Rice’s status stands as the reporting gets ironed out, but it seems safe to rule him out for this week.
Rice’s usage, Weeks 1-3:
- 37.5% reception share
- 43.7% receiving yardage share
It had essentially been accepted that Rice had supplanted Travis Kelce as the go-to option in Kansas City’s offense, making this a big blow that the Chiefs aren’t exactly built to withstand due to injuries to Hollywood Brown and Isiah Pacheco.
With Rice sidelined, rookie Xavier Worthy will have to step up and serve as the team’s WR1. I understand the desire to vault Worthy up your rest-of-season rankings, but with limited defensive attention, he’s managed to earn just 15 targets on 104 routes (14.4%, a rate that ranks behind Jonathan Mingo and Chris Conley this season).
That’s not to say Worthy can’t succeed. He very obviously can make the most of low usage (his first target last week resulted in a 54-yard touchdown, all of which were yards gained in the air), but the ability to win targets is only going to get more difficult without Rice attracting attention.
Worthy has seen an end-zone target in three of four games this season, but in a tough matchup, I have him sitting just outside of my top 30 at the position. He’s not the deep-ball-oriented receiver in this game I have ranked highest, and he falls below the boredom line.