Following Rashee Rice‘s knee injury, questions turned to how the Kansas City Chiefs would find production from its receiving corps for the rest of the season.
Head coach Andy Reid said Monday that rookie Xavier Worthy showed he can do some “nice things” as the primary target, but the Chiefs don’t want to overload the first-rounder.
“We’ll see how he does,” Reid said of Worthy, per the Kansas City Star. “We’ve got guys here that have experience of playing in the game. It’s not that he’s the only one. He doesn’t have to be the only one. We’ve got a good group of guys there that we can utilize. We normally spread the ball around, and that’s what we’ll continue to strive to do.”
After Rice went down early in Sunday’s win over the Los Angeles Chargers, Worthy put up a career-high 73 yards on three catches with a touchdown. However, 54 of those yards came on one scoring play.
Rice has been the engine of the Chiefs’ passing offense early this season. His ability to win off the line and gobble up YAC has kept the chains moving for the undefeated Chiefs. While K.C. hasn’t confirmed the extent of the knee injury, the second-year wideout is out indefinitely.
With Rice going down, Marquise Brown likely out until the postseason at the earliest, and running back Isiah Pacheco on injured reserve, the Chiefs offensive plans concocted this offseason have been shelved.
The injury to Rice leaves Worthy and Justin Watson as the top wide receiver targets. JuJu Smith-Schuster, Mecole Hardman and Skyy Moore could see their roles expand.
Smith-Schuster, who returned to K.C. this offseason, has just two catches for 17 yards and a touchdown through four games but could be the man to step into Rice’s role.
“He’s played quite a bit up to this point, and I think he’s in good shape. I don’t think that’s a problem,” Reid said. “Pat (Mahomes) has a lot of trust in him. He’s still a good football player.”
The Chiefs could also elevate a player or two from the practice squad to help fill the void. Justyn Ross, Nikko Remigio and Montrell Washington are all options.
Questions in the receiver room are sure to lead to trade speculation — the deadline is Nov. 5. Reid didn’t dismiss the idea of K.C. bringing in another receiver.
“It takes somebody a little bit of time to get himself involved and get the terminology down,” Reid said. “But it’s a lot easier now than it is during training camp, when they have to learn a gazillion plays. Here, they just have the game week (plays) to learn.
”But getting on the same page with the quarterback and the timing and all that, that’s a bigger issue normally.”
Unless they trade for a big-name wideout — i.e., DeAndre Hopkins or Amari Cooper — the Chiefs will once again lean on the magic of Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce as they attempt to three-peat.
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