The Kansas City Chiefs have been among the most injury-riddled teams in the entire NFL. Before the season even began, the team lost star acquisition Hollywood Brown. A litany of injuries in the weeks since have made their one-possession games more defensible.
Arguably the biggest blow of their season came in Week 4 when Rashee Rice suffered a major knee injury. Let’s examine what happened on that fateful play against the Los Angeles Chargers.
Why Isn’t Rashee Rice Playing?
In his rookie season, Rice was a revelation for Kansas City. Instantly becoming a favorite of QB Patrick Mahomes, he generated 938 yards on the way to the Super Bowl. In Year 2, the team was expecting a sizeable jump from him. However, his season was cut short by injury.
Rice was injured on a Patrick Mahomes interception in Week 4 against the Chargers. The receiver forced Chargers cornerback Kristian Fulton to fumble on the return, but Mahomes appeared to take out Rice’s right knee while trying to make a tackle. To add insult to injury, Fulton’s fumble and the Chiefs’ ensuing recovery were eventually overturned.
After allowing the swelling in his knee to abate, Rice underwent an arthroscopic knee procedure on Monday, Oct. 7. That operation yielded positive news, indicating that, while Rice needed an LCL repair, he may not have damaged any other ligaments.
The following day, Rice had surgery on his LCL and his hamstring tendon, according to NFL insider Jordan Schultz. Rice avoided tears or damage to his ACL or meniscus. Schultz called Rice’s operation “the best-case scenario.”
How Long Will Rice Be Out Due to Injury?
Chiefs fans aren’t going to see Rice on the field this season. As head coach Andy Reid stated, the recovery period is expected to be similar to a torn ACL, which will place his return near the beginning of the 2025 season.
The common notion is that Rice will be available in Week 1 next season, if not before that. However, a recent story from Rice on Instagram had fans wondering if a miraculous recovery was in the cards.
Over the last week and a half, a return for the aforementioned Brown became inevitable. The offseason acquisition is set to make his season debut in Week 16 against the Houston Texans, barring any last-minute setbacks. Once news about Brown started to make the rounds, Rice put out a picture of the two receivers alongside Mahomes, prompting fans to wonder if he could come back sooner than expected.
While it remains (very) unlikely, something else to consider is the threat of suspension possibly heading his way. The NFL is yet to assign a suspension to Rice for his role in a hit-and-run case from March.
Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio reported that the team might try to have Rice serve the suspension while he is injured. His suspension has yet to be handed out.
How Has Rice’s Absence Impacted the Chiefs?
While the Chiefs got off to a slow start, the loss of Rice worsened the offensive outlook. In particular, Mahomes was struggling compared to his standards for the first half of the season. Even though the team has turned in a 13-1 record, the two-time MVP is having his worst season yet. With Week 15 in the books, Mahomes is at a career-worst in:
- Yards per attempt: 6.7
- Passing yards per game: 239.4
- Touchdown rate: 4.4%
- Passer Rating: 91.0
- Sacks: 35
The result has been an offense that has looked mortal far too frequently. The workload on tight end Travis Kelce has been immense and the run game has failed to produce many explosive plays. Additionally, Mahomes’ chemistry with rookie receiver Xavier Worthy and midseason acquisition DeAndre Hopkins still need work.
Subsequently, nearly every Kansas City game has been a nail-biter. While they have been on the winning side in each of those one-possession games, walking the tightrope seems unsustainable. The Chiefs are expected to compete, if not win, the Super Bowl, and the offense seems like it will make that more difficult than in years past.
Nobody said becoming the first team to three-peat as Super Bowl champions would be easy. But filling the Rice-sized hole in the roster has proven to be another obstacle on the path to football immortality.
