Despite playing in on only eight games this season, Rashee Rice leads all Kansas City Chiefs wide receivers with 53 receptions and 571 receiving yards. Plus, his five touchdown grabs are tied for the team high.
But he might not be available this week against the Tennessee Titans. Rice reported concussion symptoms Monday and is in the NFL’s concussion protocol, according to Chiefs head coach Andy Reid, who also said the third-year receiver won’t practice Wednesday.
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“Those things happen, and we’ll just see where it ends up going,” Reid said.
The longtime Chiefs coach noted that receiver Tyquan Thornton is in the concussion protocol as well and wouldn’t be practicing Wednesday either.
So in addition to being down a three-time Super Bowl champion quarterback in Patrick Mahomes — who has started his recovery from an ACL tear — Kansas City has important injury questions at the receiver position.
With their 16-13 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers this past Sunday, the 6-8 Chiefs were eliminated from playoff contention. That ended their remarkable run of 10 straight postseason appearances, including seven consecutive trips to the AFC championship game and three Super Bowl appearances in a row.
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During that fateful defeat to the division rival Chargers, Mahomes tore the ACL in his left knee. That injury occurred late in the fourth quarter. In the third quarter, though, Rice suffered a brutal blow from Chargers safety Tony Jefferson, the latest in a series of hard hits the standout wideout has sustained in recent weeks.
Rice stayed down after the play and ultimately went to the Chiefs’ medical tent, where he then emerged with his helmet.
Although Rice went back in the game and finished with seven receptions for 51 yards in the three-point defeat, the symptoms he reported Monday landed him in the concussion protocol.
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Rice, who flirted with a 1,000-yard season as a rookie in 2023, was a go-to target for Mahomes after returning to action following a six-game suspension that he served because of his role in a multi-car Dallas crash that injured multiple people last year.
Due to the suspension as well as a knee injury that cost him most of the 2024 season, Rice went more than 12 months without playing in a game.
Still, he’s been effective since taking the field again. Backup quarterback Gardner Minshew will need all the help he can get to put a struggling Chiefs team back on track.
A speedy recovery from Rice, and Thornton, would be a big lift.
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