Injuries caught up with the Kansas City Chiefs too early in the 2024 NFL season. The team is still undefeated with a perfect 5-0 record, but keeping this streak going will be challenging for Andy Reid‘s men.
Especially now that the Chiefs coach all but confirmed the loss of a star player for the rest of the year. Speaking to reporters on Monday, Reid provided a revealing update on wide receiver Rashee Rice.
“His surgery was not his ACL, it was the posterolateral corner, there was damage there,” Reid said, via Sports Illustrated. “It’s probably the same result, though, as you’d get time-wise for an ACL. It takes a while for that to come back. He’ll get into his rehab and get rolling on that as we go here.”
While Reid revealed Rice had surgery on his posterolateral corner (PLC), the Chiefs coach suggested that the length of the wideout’s recovery will probably be similar to that of an ACL tear.
Rashee Rice of the Kansas City Chiefs runs for a fourth quarter touchdown against the Las Vegas Raiders at Allegiant Stadium on November 26, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
This means the second-year wide receiver is likely to miss the remainder of the 2024 NFL season, including playoffs. Needless to say, it’s a huge loss for Reid and Patrick Mahomes, as Rice was leading the Chiefs offense until Week 4.
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Rice’s surgery adds to list of Chiefs injury woes
Rice’s injury occurred in the strangest of circumstances, as it was his own quarterback who injured the wide receiver. After throwing an interception early in the first quarter against the Los Angeles Chargers, Mahomes injured Rice by accidentally tackling the wideout in an attempt to stop the opponents.
With Rice on the sidelines, the Chiefs lost their primary wide receiver and increased their list of injured players. Before Rice, Kansas City lost veteran WR Marquise “Hollywood” Brown to a sternoclavicular joint dislocation sustained in preaseason, an injury that was followed by Isiah Pacheco’s fractured fibula in Week 2.
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That means the Chiefs have their biggest free agency signing, their starting running back, and their primary wideout all on the sidelines. Mahomes and Reid have so far managed to continue winning despite these setbacks, but we’ll have to wait and see whether they can keep this going as the season advances.
