A devastating injury for Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice has brought his season to an abrupt end.
There were question marks over Rashee Rice for the 2024 NFL season due to off-field issues. Permitted to play, the Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver was outstanding on the field.
Rice posted 288 yards and two touchdowns in his opening three games, before suffering a torn ACL against the LA Chargers.
It is a crushing blow for the Chiefs, who are dealing with an ongoing injury for big free agency signing Marquise ‘Hollywood’ Brown.
Xavier Worthy next in line
One move the Kansas City Chiefs did make in the off-season was to select wide receiver Xavier Worthy in the NFL Draft first round, after a trade with the Buffalo Bills.
Worthy made an immediate impact in the NFL season opener against Baltimore with one rushing touchdown on his first touch, and one receiving touchdown, but has been a little inconsistent since.
The rookie is expected to see increased snaps and targets following Rashee Rice’s injury against the Chargers.
Worthy did score a touchdown in the Chiefs victory over the Chargers – this was his first in three games since the season opener, with 154 yards accrued across four games.
And with Rashee Rice out, Worthy is expected to see more defensive attention from opponents, starting with the New Orleans Saints on Monday Night Football.
Steve Smith Sr verdict
Xavier Worthy has to prove he is more than a gadget player and a deep threat, and can turn into an all-round receiver like Rashee Rice.
Speaking to Heed The Call, former Carolina Panthers and Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Steve Smith Sr expressed his doubts that Worthy can step up at this early stage of his career.
Smith Sr explained: “This is a player that I see is going to get better and better. But to expect Worthy to all of a sudden be this number one receiver that Rashee Rice was becoming this season?
“[Rice] with 40 per of the receiving yards for the Kansas City Chiefs and all of a sudden he goes down in the middle of a game and you expect Xavier Worthy who was just drafted six months ago to all of a sudden wake up roll out of bed just because he’s fast, to be able to do what Rashee Rice was doing, that they took a year and a half to develop, that’s not a realistic expectation.”
He added that while Chiefs coach Andy Reid is ‘masterful’, expecting Worthy to fill the Rice role will not happen overnight.
“Worthy has all the tools and the willingness, but you just have to be patient and understand, this is a guy you expected to be a home run hitter, now you ask him to also be an intermediate route runner, beat the press, run a shallow route and that it took Rashee Rice a year to figure out, now he’s expected to do it perfectly off the bat, that’s unrealistic.”
