Rashee

Rice

Dacoda Jones this week reportedly filed a lawsuit accusing Rice of “choking, strangling, scratching, hitting, and headbutting” Jones over a 19-month period. The lawsuit also says Rice broke furniture and punched holes in walls during arguments with Jones. Much of the violent behavior occurred while Jones was pregnant, according to the lawsuit. Rice’s alleged violence caused “bleeding, swelling, bruising, and other pain and physical injury to her neck, face, mouth, arms, legs, chest, and shoulder,” according to the lawsuit. Jones had previously accused Rice of abusive behavior in social media posts. This is Rice’s most recent run-in with the law after he fled the scene of a major automobile accident last offseason and was suspended by the NFL for the first six games of the regular season.

With nothing left to play for, it didn’t make any sense for the Chiefs to keep Rice on the field to close out the year. His season is over. Rice missed the first six weeks of the year while serving a suspension for a hit-and-run incident that occurred in March of 2024. He returned to the lineup in Week 7 and never looked back. Rice dominated targets on a Chiefs offense that desperately needed a No. 1 receiver to step up. He amassed 53 catches for 571 yards and five touchdowns in just eight games. Rice even added five rush attempts for 20 yards and a score by seeing the occasional schemed carry, a handful of which came at the goal line. On a points-per-game basis, Rice finished the season as the WR5 in PPR formats. The Chiefs still need a true downfield threat to complement Rice, but his ability to generate easy completions for Patrick Mahomes and stack up YAC on those looks is almost unmatched in the NFL. Fantasy managers can pencil him in as a WR1 heading into early 2026 drafts.

It’s not a great sign for Rice’s Christmas Day availability against the Broncos. Rice was sidelined last week against the Titans with the head injury, and the Chiefs have little reason to rush him back into game action with their season lost. Xavier Worthy will continue operating as the Chiefs’ de facto WR1 while Rice is out, though Worthy remains a deep league-online option for Week 17 against Denver.

The same can be said of Tyquan Thornton as each wide receiver was listed as a “DNP” on Monday’s estimated practice report. Both players will first need to be asymptomatic before returning to the practice field in some capacity, remain asymptomatic through a full session, and then be cleared by an independent neurologist in order to play on Christmas Day.

He was declared out on Friday, as were most of the other Chiefs inactives today. Rice has a chance to come back last week, though Gardner Minshew taking over at quarterback significantly reduces his fantasy upside. The rest of the Chiefs inactives are: CB Trent McDuffie (knee), OL CJ Hanson, OT Jaylon Moore (knee), WR Tyquan Thornton (concussion), DT Derrick Nnadi (illness) and RB Dameon Pierce.

Rice did not practice all week and should be considered questionable for Week 17. Xavier Worthy bumps up to a potential WR3 play with the added volume from Rice spread around, and Hollywood Brown may be a usable FLEX pick as well. Yes, Gardner Minshew is under center, but it’s still the Tennessee Titans defense on the other side.

Rice is on the wrong side of questionable at this point, as is WR Tyquan Thornton (concussion), who will also be sidelined today. The Chiefs will likely attempt to control the game with a run-heavy approach against the Titans, with QB Gardner Minshew under center. Chiefs WR Xavier Worthy and TE Travis Kelce should handle significant portions of the available targets.

Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said Rice “reported concussion symptoms on Monday and entered the league’s protocol.” Chiefs WR Tyquan Thornton is also in the league’s concussion protocol, potentially leaving the receiving corps short-staffed for QB Gardner Minshew against the Titans this week. Chiefs TE Travis Kelce could get a chance to pad his stats, given the state of things, on Sunday.

Rice easily led the Chiefs in targets but didn’t make much of the opportunity with short-area looks from Patrick Mahomes, who went down in the fourth quarter with a serious knee injury. Rice missed a portion of Week 15’s loss after taking a vicious shot to the upper body on an intermediate target in double coverage. Three of Rice’s past five outings have been ordinary, leaving doubts about whether Rice will have any upside in the season’s final two weeks. Rice will be a low-end WR2 option in Week 16 against the Titans.

Not only did Rice fail to return a usable fantasy outing, but two of Patrick Mahomes’ four incompletions when targeting Rice went down as drops. The worst instance came on fourth down half way through the fourth quarter when Rice saw the pass go straight through his hands. The poor outing can be viewed as a slight blip for fantasy’s overall WR1 in fantasy points per game ahead of a must-win game against the Chargers in Week 15.