Why Rice Tops NFL List of Most-Anticipated Returns From Injury

As part of his 100 things to know to commemorate 100 days until the NFL season, analyst Ben Solak on Tuesday listed 16 key NFL players returning from injured reserve. Front and center on that list is Rashee Rice.

“Rice was playing well last season,” Solak wrote, “but you might not remember just how well he was playing before a right knee injury put him on IR. In three games, Rice had 24 catches for 288 yards and two scores.

“That's a 17-game pace of 136 catches for 1,632 yards and 11 touchdowns. Rice would have been the season leader in receptions and second only to Ja'Marr Chase in receiving yards had he stayed healthy and on pace.”

Rice caught all 24 of those passes – which led the league at the time -- in hard-fought wins over Baltimore, Cincinnati and Atlanta as the Chiefs authored a 3-0 start. Then, disaster happened.

Less than 11 minutes into the first quarter of Kansas City’s Week 4 road win over the Chargers, Patrick Mahomes threw deep looking for Travis Kelce. Their future teammate Kristian Fulton intercepted the pass and – in what became Rice’s last valiant effort of the season – Rice forced a fumble on the return.

However, while Rice was punching the ball out of Fulton’s hands, Mahomes accidentally collided with Rice’s right knee in attempting to tackle Fulton. Kansas City was devastated as athletic trainers and medical personnel took the talented wide receiver to the locker room.

On Oct. 8, Rice underwent posterolateral corner surgery, a unique procedure, to repair his lateral collateral ligament (LCL). He was given a recovery timeline of 10 to 12 months, according to head coach Andy Reid. Rice said in early April, doctors had cleared him to run routes, an encouraging step in the process.

He’s not likely to return on the same torrid pace, however.

“Rice won't take the same volume,” Solak said, “given the way Xavier Worthy emerged as an underneath target, but he has the size and ball-winning ability the Chiefs sorely lacked down the stretch.”

Worthy’s rise late last season, including a stellar Super Bowl effort in a losing cause, figures to do wonders for Rice and Hollywood Brown, who also return after missing much of the 2024 season with a Week 1 shoulder injury.

And in an unexpected silver lining to Rice’s return, unless the Chiefs somehow have to travel to meet their AFC West rival in the playoffs, Rice, Kelce, Mahomes, and Fulton won’t return to SoFi Stadium until 2026. The NFL scheduled the annual Chiefs’ road game against the Chargers for primetime on Friday of Week 1, September 5, in São Paulo, Brazil.

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