NFL
JUST IN: Fox Sports just reported that the recovery of Chiefs Rashee Rice from injury “suffers setback”. The statement says the Chiefs WR was evaluated and seen to lack…
The Kansas City Chiefs could be losing another offensive weapon to injury after wide receiver Rashee Rice left the game against the Los Angeles Chargers. He was carted off the field after suffering a knee injury. After the game Chiefs head coach Andy Reid provided a pessimistic update on the status of the star wideout.
“I feel terrible for Rashee… we will hope for the best.” If Rice is sidelined for a significant amount of time, the Chiefs will have to rely on others to get them through the season. Rice had emerged as one of the more explosive offensive weapons around the entire league so this would be a big blow to their attack.
Chiefs star quarterback Patrick Mahomes also spoke about the injury after the game. He said he was hopeful for Rice but if he is forced to miss time, that others will need to step up.
“We’ll see what happens with Rashee. Hopefully we can get him back at some point this season, but if not, other guys gotta step up. That’s what football is about. I think we’ve got a lot of good guys out there that can go out there and make plays.” The Chiefs are already dealing with some injuries, with Marquise “Hollywood” Brown sidelined for the entire regular season. Tight end Travis Kelce has had a slow start to the year as well, making this injury to Rice even more critical for Kansas City.
The Chiefs have seen a very inconsistent offensive attack this season but remain 4-0 on the season. They earned another grind-it-out style win over the Chargers on Sunday to stay undefeated in the new year.
Kansas City is looking to become the first-ever team to win three straight titles in the Super Bowl era. Without Rice, it could become even tougher for them as he has become the most reliable wide reliever for Mahomes. “You’ve seen that he’s been more versatile this year,” Mahomes added. “He is able to run more and more routes and then the way he’s able to catch the ball and make stuff happen after the catch, he is a hard guy to tackle. And so being able to do both those things, I think it helps that the speed out there is kind of helping spread out the field for him and then there’s a lot of attention on Travis.”
With Rice scheduled to get an MRI soon, we should know more about the extent of this injury. But based on initial thoughts, Kansas City should expect to have their star out for a good amount of time, if not for the entire season.