For the Kansas City Chiefs, Week 1 is officially one week away, and the Jalen Royals injury is starting to raise some concerns with Rashee Rice suspended to start the year.
“Jalen Royals’ knee is a big question mark,” Arrowhead Pride writer Rocky Magaña argued on August 29.
Royals is currently questionable to play with knee “tendinitis,” although no official injury report will be released until next week. Either way, with Rice already unavailable, Royals‘ Week 1 status bears watching.
After their final preseason game, I expected the Chiefs to keep seven wide receivers — which I thought was a high number. But Kansas City opted to keep eight wide receivers on its initial roster,” Magaña pointed out within his article.
Continuing: “As soon as we learned that wide receiver Rashee Rice and the league had agreed on a six-game suspension for Rice’s role in a high-speed auto accident in March of 2024, this made sense. On Thursday, general manager Brett Veach acknowledged that before the cutdown, the team had been made aware that Rice’s suspension was imminent.”
If that was the only problem the Chiefs were preparing to meet, seven wide receivers would have made sense. But they still kept eight,” Magaña went on. This tells me that while they are hopeful rookie wide receiver Jalen Royals will be available to start the season against the Los Angeles Chargers next Friday in São Paulo, they have prepared for life without him if his knee tendinitis lingers longer than expected.
Jalen Royals Was a Huge Part of the Chiefs’ Plan to Spell Rashee Rice
GettyKansas City Chiefs rookie wide receiver Jalen Royals is dealing with a knee injury.
The Chiefs didn’t just draft Royals because of Rice’s looming suspension, but it was an added benefit that no doubt crossed their minds.
Throughout the spring, members of the Chiefs’ coaching staff jokingly referred to Royals as Rashee Rice “light,” meaning a mini-version of their WR1. And it’s easy to see why.
As training camp got going, Royals showed off similarities between his game and Rice’s, especially in the yards after the catch department. It’s possible that Royals would have even slotted straight into Rice’s Week 1 role in the screen and short-game department, had this injury not stalled his development.
To make matters worse, Hollywood Brown has missed the majority of August with an ankle injury. Brown is expected to suit up in Week 1, but there’s no telling if he’s 100% either.
That leaves the Chiefs in a precarious situation at wide receiver once again, with upcoming flights to Brazil not far away.
Chiefs Must Lean on Travis Kelce & Xavier Worthy in Week 1
Given all the uncertainty at wide receiver heading into Week 1, the Chiefs‘ passing attack must lean on two players early on.
Sure, role players like Noah Gray and JuJu Smith-Schuster will be important in moments, similar to last year, but Travis Kelce and Xavier Worthy must come ready to play in Brazil.
The Chiefs covered themselves with plenty of WR and TE depth for Patrick Mahomes heading into the start of the 2025 season, but it’ll be the top of the depth chart that wins and loses KC football games without Rice.
If Royals‘ name is momentarily scratched off that list, too, along with a potentially hobbled Brown, it’s up to Kelce and Worthy to carry the load.
Lingering Chiefs Injury Raises Concerns Ahead of Week 1