Kansas City

Chiefs

Reid gave a meandering response when asked about the team’s discussions with the league regarding Rice’s latest off-field issues. Rice is currently serving a 30-day jail sentence for violating his probation. Per Reid, the team spoke with the league, and “as far as any further ado to that, there’s been no talk about anything further.” Reid said only, “don’t know,” when reporters tried to clarify whether Rice might be suspended. The Chiefs are evidently “moving forward, just normal as we go here.” Drawing a firm conclusion from this is difficult, but we suppose that the fact that the league did not bring up a possible suspension when speaking with the team is a positive sign.

Today’s session was voluntary and Kelce is entering his 13th NFL season. We would love it if he were there, but we are not worried about his absence. Kelce signed a three-year extension late in March and will once again man the TE1 spot in Kansas City this season. The Chiefs have another three-day OTA run from June 1-3. Mandatory minicamp goes from June 9-11.

This is presumably related to the shoulder injury that head coach Andy Reid says limited Worthy throughout the 2025 season. Questions remain as to how large a workload Worthy, 23, can handle. But with TE Travis Kelce entering his age-36 season and No. 1 WR Rashee Rice dealing with more health and off-field issues, Worthy has the opportunity to carve out a sizable role right now.

Mahomes acknowledges that it is “unclear” whether he will actually be ready to fully participate once training camp begins. His recovery timeline includes checkpoints that occur every one-to-two weeks. The next step is running, cutting and proving to the training staff “that he can protect himself.” Mahomes’ rehab seems to be going very well. He seemingly has a chance to be ready for Week 1.

ESPN’s Nate Taylor reports Mahomes, recovering from a late-season knee injury, participated “in some form and fashion ... during the Chiefs’ opening OTA practice.” The team released a video of Mahomes throwing a short pass while wearing an enormous brace on his injured left leg. Mahomes, entering his age-31 season, is in a race against the clock to be ready for Week 1 against the Broncos. If Mahomes can’t suit up for the season opener, Justin Fields would likely serve as KC’s starter.

This doesn’t come as much of a surprise. Despite a productive 156-1,797-14 line in 28 career games, recurring legal issues have caught up to Rice here. The former second-round pick is entering the final year of his rookie contract and would ordinarily be in line for an extension here, but Rice, who was recently sentenced to 30 days in jail for violating his probation, will need to wait on that. Rice will miss OTAs and mandatory minicamp as a result of his prison stint, and will need to impress both on and off the field this upcoming season if he hopes to secure a long-term extension next offseason. He caught 53 passes for 571 yards and five touchdowns in eight games last season and has averaged 64.2 receiving yards per game in his career to go with 7.5 targets per game. Assuming he’s good to go for the start of this season, Rice will profile as a fringe WR1/WR2 with tons of upside.

Rice’s off-the-field issues once again will coincide with a knee issue. Schefter reports Rice underwent a clean-up procedure to remove “loose debris” in his right knee one week prior to being ordered to serve 30 days in jail due to violating probation. The 26-year-old is expected to be sidelined two months due to the procedure. He will miss much of the Chiefs offseason program but would be ready to return for training camp, as long as legal issues do not keep him off the field. The Chiefs have a sparse receiving room behind Rice and would have Xavier Worthy and Tyquan Thornton as their top two wide receivers without Rice. Pending Rice’s recovery, the Chiefs may look to add a pass-catcher or two for depth heading into training camp.

Johnson recently met with the Giants and Eagles after being a steady special teams contributor for the Chiefs in 2022, 2024, and 2025. He played the 2025 season on a one-year contract.

Rice reportedly tested positive for marijuana, released in court documents dated Tuesday, 19 May. The court order states that the defendant (Rice) was placed in custody Tuesday and has been ordered to serve 30 days in jail, to end 16 June. That places Rice in line to miss organized team activities and mandatory minicamp. The presence of a controlled substance in his system was a violation of the probation stemming from third degree felony charges levied last July in connection with highway racing that led to bodily harm. This comes a month after the league ruled that there would be no further adjudication resultant from the incident. That could change given recent happenings. Stay tuned, sports fans. Xavier Worthy would be the player to benefit most in a fantasy setting should Rice face additional league discipline. Playing in the final season of his rookie deal, Rice’s future hangs in the balance after yet another offseason transgression.

Obviously Smith’s fantasy value took a huge hit with the addition of Kenneth Walker. But they also added Emari Demercado and moved up in the fifth round to draft Emmitt Johnson. Per Newell, “It all means Smith faces an important training camp. He’s a seventh-round pick, so the team doesn’t have a great amount invested in him if it does choose to move on.” Smith barely got a chance to run the ball last year, which was damning on its own considering how poor the running back room was, so it wouldn’t be surprising if he was a non-factor this year. He’s not a must-hold in dynasty formats.