Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice is in the midst of serving the third game of his six-game suspension stemming from an off-the-field incident in March 2024. Chiefs players aren't pleased about Rice's suspension, but are waiting for his return to the starting lineup as they’re without second-year WR Xavier Worthy due to a shoulder injury.
The earliest Rice can play is in Week 7 against the Las Vegas Raiders (Oct. 19). However, on Sunday, we found out that the young wide receiver can begin to come back to KC’s practice facility, which is a good first step.
According to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, the third-year receiver is allowed back in the facility after KC's Week 3 game, but still cannot practice. However, he can participate in meetings and ramp up for his eventual debut.
Rashee Rice Still Can’t Practice, but Allowed to Return to Practice Facility
If you’re Rice and the Chiefs, this is the next best option, as they’ll need him to be at the top of his game when he does return. While you'd like to have Rice on the practice field going through drills, just getting him in the facility around his teammates is good.
The Chiefs’ passing game sorely misses him and Worthy to start this season. Rice provides superstar QB Patrick Mahomes a security blanket in the slot and someone who can get yards after the catch. We saw that during Rice’s rookie season in 2023.
The former SMU wide receiver became one of Mahomes’ favorite targets during that season, as he had 79 receptions (102 targets) for 938 yards and a team-high seven touchdowns.
Without Rice on the field, it has put more onus on veteran wide receivers Juju Smith-Schuster and Hollywood Brown.
Brown had a solid Week 1 against the Los Angeles Chargers (10 recs for 99 yards), but didn’t do much in Week 2 against the Philadelphia Eagles. Meanwhile, Smith-Schuster has posted six receptions (eight targets) for 60 yards through the first two games.
Kansas City will hope that those two veterans can pick it up over the next few weeks until Rice is eligible to play. In the meantime, the Chiefs will be happy to have Rice back in some capacity and hope he can bring some insight to help get this passing game going in the right direction.