Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs received bad news last week, when they found out wide receiver Rashee Rice will have to serve a six-game suspension at the start of the 2025 NFL season.
It was an unexpected turn of events in Kansas City, since word on the street was that Rice wouldn’t have his hearing with the league until September 30. That would’ve made him eligible for at least the first four games of the year.
Rice was involved in a multicar crash in Dallas last year, but the NFL waited for a sentence before deciding his punishment for violating the league’s personal conduct policy. After pleading guilty to two third-degree felony charges, Rice was sentenced to 30 days of jail time and five years’ probation. And instead of waiting for a hearing with the NFL, he chose to serve his suspension at the beginning of the campaign.
However, it appears that the Chiefs were already preparing for a scenario where they couldn’t count on the third-year wideout. Speaking to the media on Sunday, Mahomes addressed Rice’s suspension with an optimistic tone.
Rashee Rice and Patrick Mahomes walking off the field.
“We prepared a little bit in the offseason for other guys having to step up. . . even last year with the injury he had, guys had to step up,” Mahomes said while praising Chiefs GM Brett Veach for adding depth at the WR room, as quoted by Charles Goldman of A to Z Sports.
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Mahomes, Chiefs already missed Rice in 2024
While initial reports suggested the Chiefs would start the season with Rice, it turned out that he won’t be able to suit up until Week 7, when the Chiefs host the Las Vegas Raiders at Arrowhead. Still, Mahomes and company knew that, sooner or later, they’d have to deal with his absence in offense.
And it’s not like this is something new to the team. As Mahomes pointed out, the Chiefs already had to operate without Rice for much of the 2024 NFL season as the wide receiver went down with a season-ending knee injury only four weeks into the campaign.
Rice may not be the only absentee in Week 1
This year, therefore, Mahomes will once again be forced to look at alternative targets. Unfortunately, the Chiefs could be down another weapon for the Week 1 international game against division rivals Los Angeles Chargers in Brazil.
During his Sunday press conference, Andy Reid revealed that rookie wide receiver Jalen Royals would miss the first practice ahead of the season opener, which puts his availability for Friday’s game into question.
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The Chiefs’ healthy WRs for Week 1
However, the head coach also had encouraging news for Mahomes and Chiefs Kingdom in regard to Marquise “Hollywood” Brown, who is expected to take the field after spending preseason on the sidelines with a foot/ankle injury.
“Yeah, so listen, I think he’ll be okay,” Reid said of Brown. “He’s a veteran guy. If he was younger, I’d be more worried about it, but he’s a veteran guy that kind of knows how to go about it. He should be fine. And we’ve got guys who can kind of rotate in, too. So, it’s not… We’ll mix and match as we go.”
This situation would leave Mahomes with the following wide receivers for the start of the 2025 NFL season: Xavier Worthy, Hollywood Brown, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Jason Brownlee, Nikko Remigio, and Tyquan Thornton.
