Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice celebrates after scoring a touchdown during the first half against the Las Vegas Raiders on Oct. 19, 2025. (Photo by William Purnell/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
For the first time in 385 days, Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice played in a regular-season NFL game.
“It felt great,” Rice said. “It meant a lot more today. You don’t really notice how much you love something until it’s gone.”
He had a game-high seven receptions and two touchdowns while recording 42 receiving yards.
The Chiefs’ 31-0 shutout of the Las Vegas Raiders represented Rice’s first regular-season action since Week Four of 2024 when he suffered a season-ending knee injury after colliding with Patrick Mahomes. He then began the 2025 season with a six-game suspension before returning in Week Seven.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Rice said.
The Chiefs, who used Rice in a variety of formations (including the slot and in motion), got him involved from the get-go.
“You saw,” Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said, “the trust that Pat has in him.”
Perhaps showing some nerves, Rice bobbled the first attempt to him on the Chiefs’ fourth offensive play, but that play was negated by holding on JuJu Smith-Schuster anyway. Five plays later his first catch was for just two yards. But on 1st and goal of that drive, Rice ran in motion, and Patrick Mahomes tossed it to him for the two-yard touchdown.
“I had to get the first one out of the way,” Rice said.
On 2nd and 10 of the Chiefs’ third offensive possession, Mahomes threw a no-look pass to Rice for 12.
The Chiefs capped that drive with Rice’s second touchdown. Split out left Rice caught the three-yard, back shoulder fade vs. defensive back Kyu Blu Kelly just before halftime.
That route was Rice’s specialty in college at SMU.
“We worked on that throw all offseason,” Mahomes said.
Although they could all practice together in the offseason, Rice, Xavier Worthy and Marquise “Hollywood” Brown were finally all healthy and in the regular-season lineup for the first time. Rice called the wide receiver room a “brotherhood” and even warmed up in a t-shirt, featuring him, Worthy and Brown, before Sunday’s dominant victory.
“These last few years have kind of built up to this for us,” Mahomes said.
The Chiefs’ first three drives went for 92 yards, 84 and 84, respectively, as Rice helped open things up for the whole offense.
Fulfilling the mantra Rice created of “everybody gotta eat,” everyone on the Chiefs contributed. Nine Chiefs caught passes, and six had more than 30 receiving yards.
“It’s a selfless team,” Worthy said. “Everybody is willing to do the dirty work, and everybody is going to do their best and what’s best for the team.”
Though Rice started the game, he and many of the other starters, including Mahomes, were pulled with eight seconds left in the third quarter.
Rice said he could have played more snaps, and the Chiefs will gradually give him more work.
“We’ll get his reps up,” Reid said.
Rice missed time after getting suspended without pay for the first six games of the 2025 regular season, causing him to forfeit more than $400,000 in salary. He violated the NFL’s personal conduct policy as a result of his role in a multi-car crash in Dallas that left multiple people injured during the 2024 offseason.
He pled guilty in district court to two third-degree felony charges — collision involving serious bodily injury and racing on a highway causing bodily injury — and was sentenced to 30 days in jail and five years’ probation as a result.
While away from the team, Rice worked out in Florida every weekday.
“He busted his tail,” Reid said. “It was great to have him back in there and the energy he brings.”
With Rice back in the fold, the three-time defending AFC champion Chiefs put the rest of the conference on notice with its impressive victory against the Raiders.
“This is probably the most consistent,” Mahomes said, “that we’ve been.”
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jefffedotin/2025/10/19/chiefs-receiver-rashee-rice-has-team-high-seven-catches-in-first-game-of-2025/
