dq. SHOCKED WITH RASHEE RICE’S RETURN PLAN: Chiefs’ Secret Strategy Could Change the Entire AFC Race

Chiefs WR Rashee Rice is in for a significant workload in his season debut.

Fresh off a thrilling Week 6 win over the Detroit Lions, the Kansas City Chiefs are riding high. Somehow, things might get even better for the reigning AFC champs in Week 7.

Wide receiver Rashee Rice, now past a mandatory six-week suspension, is set to make his season debut against the Las Vegas Raiders. Will the team take things slowly with ramping him up for in-game action?

Anyone expecting that may want to think again. In an October 15 story for ESPN, insiders Dan Graziano and Jeremy Fowler opened their notebooks and revealed some of their Week 7 intel. For Kansas City’s section, it’s tremendous news.

Fowler says there won’t be much of an acclimation period for the dynamic wideout. The Chiefs will be all systems go with Rice once he’s officially back in the lineup.

Balancing workloads with other wideouts like Xavier Worthy, Marquise “Hollywood” Brown, Tyquan Thornton and JuJu Smith-Schuster is a good problem to have.

“The Chiefs won’t be easing Rashee Rice back into action,” Fowler wrote. “They will be allocating a heavy workload for him as soon as possible. Rice, who returns from suspension this week, has been in the building for weeks, had an excellent training camp and is in peak physical shape.

“A team source says Rice will be ‘full bore’ this week as he gets back onto the practice field. The Chiefs have long envisioned an offense with a receiving trio of Rice, Xavier Worthy and Hollywood Brown on the same field, with Tyquan Thornton and JuJu Smith-Schuster as complementary guys. That’s a really strong five-man receiving group.”

Rice being anything like his pre-injury (and pre-suspension) self would be a huge boost for the Chiefs. In his first three games last season, he hauled in 24 passes on 29 targets for 288 yards and 2 touchdowns. The 2023 second-round pick was one of football’s most productive wideouts before suffering a season-ending knee ailment against the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 4.

From Weeks 1-3 a year ago, Rice played 151 offensive snaps, good for 78.2% of those available. That’d lead the 2025 wideout room, as Smith-Schuster’s 71.1% mark paces the current group.

Speaking to the media on Monday afternoon, Reid broke down the process of getting Rice up to speed.

“Listen, I know he’s been working like crazy,” Reid said. “The rule states that we can’t work with him, but I know he’s been working out hard. And I think it’s just a matter of getting him back in the swing. I’ve got to see it to kind of work through it. I know he’s in good shape, that’s the one thing that I do know. I think that will be important, him coming back in there and getting with Patrick [Mahomes] and kind of getting on the same page and that whole deal. But we’ll just see how all that works out. We haven’t put the game plan in yet so we’re working through all of that now.”

Perhaps the most exciting element of Rice’s activation back to the roster is the three-headed monster the Chiefs will have. He, Worthy and Brown were expected to take over last year but Brown got hurt in the preseason and Rice was out by the time he got back in December. This year, Worthy’s been banged up a bit and Rice obviously hasn’t played yet.

Everybody’s got to eat in the Kansas City passing attack, which players will remind you of. With Rice’s return approaching, Reid looks forward to it.

“I think that will be a positive thing,” Reid said. “They haven’t been on the field together other than training camp. I think they’re looking forward to it maybe even more than I’m looking forward to it. They’re excited to play together, those three are very close. We’ll see how it all works out. I don’t have a lot of promises for you, but it will be great to get him [Rice] back going and in the swing.”

Jordan Foote is a seasoned sports writer who covers the NFL for Heavy.com with an emphasis on the Kansas City Chiefs, New York Jets and Pittsburgh Steelers. He has years of experience publishing NFL and MLB content for Sports Illustrated’s On SI vertical, in addition to a background in NBA coverage for multiple outlets. Foote is a Baker University alumnus, earning his degree in Mass Media. He’s based in Kansas City. More about Jordan Foote