As the Kansas City Chiefs head into their bye week, they’re doing so with more clarity regarding the injury situation of wide receiver Rashee Rice.
Prior to Monday night’s victory over the New Orleans Saints, it was reported that Rice’s season was expected to be over due to an LCL injury in his knee. Surgery on Tuesday would go on to reveal the full extent of the damage, and that process has now been completed.
According to a Tuesday afternoon report from Jordan Schultz of Bleacher Report, Rice underwent successful surgery on the LCL and also had a hamstring procedure done. His season is over, but the good news is that he seemed to avoid any damage to other critical knee structures like the ACL and meniscus.
“Sources: #Chiefs WR Rashee Rice underwent successful LCL surgery today with Dr. Cooper and will miss the remainder of the regular season,” Schultz’s tweet began. “A full recovery is expected. There was also a repair done to Rice’s hamstring tendon, and I’m told there was no structural damage or tears to the ACL or meniscus, and no long-term concerns. This is the best case scenario.”
Prior to his injury, Rice had emerged as the Chiefs’ go-to target on offense. In just three games, the former second-round pick hauled in 24 passes on 29 targets for 288 yards and a pair of touchdowns. In addition to remaining one of the game’s premier yards-after-catch threats, Rice was beginning to flash an improved rapport with quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Unfortunately, the returns on that duo’s chemistry for the rest of the 2024-25 regular season won’t be known.
In Monday’s win, JuJu Smith-Schuster led all Kansas City wideouts with seven receptions for 130 yards. As Joshua Brisco of Chiefs On SI looked at the Chiefs’ Week 5 snap counts and routes run, a picture of how the Chiefs view their wide receiver room came into clearer view:
“Justin Watson led wide receivers with 59 snaps (70%), just edging out JuJu Smith-Schuster and Xavier Worthy, who both had 56 (67%),” Brisco wrote. “Mecole Hardman took just eight offensive snaps (10%) while Skyy Moore took six (7%). … On 44 Patrick Mahomes dropbacks, Worthy ran 35 routes, Watson ran 31, Smith-Schuster ran 29, Hardman ran six and Moore ran zero. The Chiefs essentially only asked Moore to block on the outside, while Hardman received four targets despite running just six routes, implying that the Chiefs wanted to get Hardman the ball in some specific plays while only relying on the top three to play the wide receiver position in a more traditional sense.”
Now without Rice and Marquise “Hollywood” Brown, the Chiefs will be forced to get creative on offense. The bye week is a perfect time to get back to the drawing board, as well as potentially inquire about the availability of other weapons as the NFL trade deadline approaches.