The Chiefs lost their top receiver in the first quarter of Sunday’s game against the Chargers.
Wide receiver Rashee Rice had to be carted to the locker room after taking a direct hit to the knee from quarterback Patrick Mahomes and is feared to have suffered a torn ACL, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported.
Additional testing will take place to confirm the diagnosis, but it likely puts an end to Rice’s season only weeks into the start of the new campaign.
“I feel terrible for Rashee,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid told reporters after the game, according to ESPN. “… We will hope for the best.”
The situation developed after Mahomes threw an interception to Chargers’ cornerback Kristian Fulton and Mahomes attempted to tackle him and instead hit Rice unintentionally square in the knee.
The receiver went down in pain and had to be helped off the field and once on the sideline, he was put on a cart to be taken to the locker room.
Rice looked emotional as he was taken on the cart back to the locker room, placing his hands over his face.
Rice was ruled out with a knee injury by the Chiefs.
“We’ll see what happens with Rashee. Hopefully we can get him back at some point this season, but if not, other guys gotta step up,” Mahomes said, per Field Yates. “That’s what football is about. I think we’ve got a lot of good guys out there that can go out there and make plays.”
The wide receiver did not have a single catch before the injury occurred, but had been one of the Chiefs’ best offensive weapons this season.
Coming into Sunday’s game, Rice had made 24 catches for 288 yards and two touchdowns in the Chiefs’ first three games of the season.
Kansas City offensive coordinator Matt Nagy credited Rice with having a better understanding of the game this season as part of the reason to his success.
“The route running, the understanding how to get open in zones,” Naggy told reporters this past week. “He’s really good in man [coverage]. He’s physical. We all know what he can do after he catches the ball. He’s violent, he likes to get hit. That’s rare sometimes at the wide receiver position.”
The success comes with the cloud looming over Rice over the tumultuous offseason for him that included facing eight charges related to a high-speed crash in Texas and then weeks later allegations that he hit a photographer at a nightclub.
The Chiefs have been hit hard by injuries despite the strong start to the year.
The win on Sunday moved Kansas City to a perfect 4-0, but they’re now down Rice, Hollywood Brown and running back Isiah Pacheco.
