The Kansas City Chiefs are looking for their third win of the season on “Sunday Night Football.” Wideout Rashee Rice scored a touchdown in the first half of K.C.’s game against the Atlanta Falcons, but Patrick Mahomes’ favorite 2024 target was banged up near the end of the third quarter.
What Happened to Chiefs WR Rashee Rice on Sunday Night Football?
Rice stayed down after taking a hit from Falcons cornerback A.J. Terrell Jr. with 1:41 remaining in the third quarter. He had just hauled in a pass for negative-three yards.
While he was slow to get up, Rice eventually left the field under his own power.
Rashee Rice is down on this play, 🙏 pic.twitter.com/dbm43OUXcD
— SM Highlights (@SMHighlights1) September 23, 2024
Rice was standing on the sideline for Kansas City’s next play, a touchdown pass from Mahomes to JuJu Smith-Schuster.
Rice was required to sit out that play because he was injured on the previous snap. Fortunately, Rice returned to the field when the Chiefs began their next offensive series near the beginning of the fourth quarter.
Rice went down on his 24th catch of the season, which made him the NFL’s receptions leader. His 288 receiving yards are second only to Houston Texans WR Nico Collins’ 338.
The Chiefs are already without offseason addition Hollywood Brown, who’s expected to miss the rest of the campaign after undergoing shoulder surgery. Kansas City lost running back Isiah Pacheco in Week 3; the third-year back could be sidelined for two months or more with a broken fibula.
Mahomes couldn’t afford to lose another weapon, especially one as talented as Rice. The 2023 second-round rookie led the Chiefs in receiving TDs and finished second to Travis Kelce in catches and yards in his debut season.
Fantasy Implications of Rice’s Injury
I was ready to anoint Rice as the overall WR2 behind Justin Jefferson for the rest of the season. After amassing over 100 yards in three quarters, Rice was forced out of the game.
The Chiefs are already down Brown and are perilously thin at wide receiver behind Rice.
If Rice is seriously hurt, first-round rookie Xavier Worthy would be forced into a larger role than the Chiefs want him to have. We also would see a lot more Justin Watson.
There is no obvious beneficiary for fantasy managers, though. We know what this looks like because we saw it last year. Watson, Smith-Schuster, and Skyy Moore would rotate in and out, with none having anything close to sustained fantasy value.
— PFN Fantasy Analyst Jason Katz