The Kansas City Chiefs have officially placed wide receiver Rashee Rice on injured reserve, the team announced Thursday. The second-year pass catcher suffered what appears to be a serious knee injury in the team's Week 4 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday. While it's still unclear if his entire 2024 season will be erased due to this injury, his designation onto injured reserve confirms that he'll at least be sidelined for the next four games.
Rice suffered the injury on Kansas City's second drive of the game. It came as friendly fire and from his quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, following an interception. As the team was trying to chase down Los Angeles corner Kristian Fulton, Mahomes crashed into Rice's knee, and the receiver was later carted off the field.
The specifics surrounding the injury that Rice suffered are still a bit uncertain. While no definitive diagnosis has been made, coach Andy Reid told reporters on Thursday that the team is waiting for the swelling in his knee to go down before undergoing more tests next week.
"I think it's just wait and see is where we're at," Reid said when asked if there is more optimism in recent days than there was when he initially suffered the injury. "For his sake, we're really hoping things work out for the best, but let's just see where it goes. Leave it up to the doctors to see. I'm definitely not a doctor."
The 24-year-old entered the league as a second-round draft choice of the Chiefs in 2023 out of SMU. He quickly proved to be a key outlet for Mahomes in the passing game, catching an NFL playoff-record 26 receptions en route to the franchise's victory in Super Bowl LVIII.
Rice is just the latest in what has been a growing list of skill-position players to go down with significant injury within the Chiefs offense. On top of him, Kansas City already has running back Isiah Pacheco and receiver Marquise Brown on injured reserve.