Unfortunately, the Rashee Rice off-the-field drama has not stopped. The Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver will serve 30 days in jail after violating his probation and testing positive for marijuana. The headache surrounding Rice has become a pain in the butt for this organization but now, it's going to impact their offense in 2026.
Bill Barnwell of ESPN slammed the Chiefs in his latest column, noting that Brett Veach not addressing wide receiver until the fifth round was the team's worst offseason move. And, knowing what we know, can you really blame him for having this take?
Here's what Barnwell said about Rice specifically:
"Rashee Rice was excellent by the end of his rookie season before having his 2024 and 2025 campaigns disrupted by injuries and suspensions, respectively. He had another knee surgery this offseason."
Chiefs ignoring WR needs considered their worst offseason move
Considering the Chiefs knew Rice had already been experiencing problems off the field, it does feel like taking a wide receiver earlier on would have made sense. They opted not to, however and, as noted, waited until the fifth round to address the position. That's not a knock on Cyrus Allen, who hopefully makes an impact as a rookie, but it would have made sense to target a position that had issues a season ago rather than run it back with the same group.
Barnwell also wrote:
"Could Veach have done more to give Patrick Mahomes -- or Justin Fields -- another answer in the passing game? I think so. A second tight end would have taken some of the load off Kelce and allowed the Chiefs to play more multi-tight end sets, something they leaned into after trading Tyreek Hill in 2022. Another route runner might have given Mahomes a reliable pair of hands. You can understand why the Chiefs worked on their defense with most of their selections in this year's draft, but this offense still feels as if it's going to be dependent upon Mahomes magic, which will be even more difficult as the QB returns from a torn ACL."
Again, hard to argue with this logic. Patrick Mahomes is coming off a major injury and the Chiefs, while upgrading the running back room, didn't improve his group of passing targets. Rice has problems off the field and has been banged up, Xavier Worthy has been injured, and Tyquan Thornton was in the dog house for whatever reason in the back half of last season. Is this group going to be enough in 2026?
Chiefs fans sure better hope so. Otherwise, it could be another miserable season for the Kansas City offense.
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