Wide receiver Rashee Rice had surgery last week to repair the posterolateral corner of his right knee, rather than the ACL that initially was thought to have been damaged in a win over the Chargers, Chiefs coach Andy Reid said Monday.
The nature of the injury, and ensuing procedure, does not significantly change the timeline for Rice’s recovery. He still will miss the remainder of the season, and it is unclear whether the repaired knee will be ready for the start of training camp in July.
“It’s probably the same result you get timewise as an ACL. It takes a while for that to come back,” Reid said as the Chiefs got back to work following their bye. “He’ll get into his rehab and get rolling on that as we go here.”
The only other injury news involved pass rusher Mike Danna, who was working through a pectoral injury during the week off.
The Chiefs are one of only two unbeaten teams left in the NFL, along with the Minnesota Vikings. They play Sunday at San Francisco in a rematch of the Super Bowl, which Kansas City won in February for its second straight Lombardi Trophy.
The Chiefs have been hit hard by injuries at key positions, losing wide receiver Marquise Brown to shoulder surgery before the season and running back Isiah Pacheco to a fractured right fibula. So far, they have been able to patch up the roster in part by bringing back a couple of familiar faces in wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster and running back Kareem Hunt.
Smith-Schuster had seven catches for 130 yards while Hunt ran 27 times for 102 yards and a touchdown in a 26-13 win over the New Orleans Saints heading into the bye. It was the first time Hunt, who had gone unsigned after a sports hernia procedure, had started for the Chiefs since they cut him amid off-the-field trouble in 2018.
“I kind of joke with him (that) he spent the bye week in the cold tub after all those carries,” Reid said. “But I mentioned before, he came back in pretty good shape, other than not having played football, and that’s held true to this point.”
The Chiefs could get running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire back this week, too. The former first-round draft pick began the season on the non-football illness list and spent time with the scout team after he was designated to return two weeks ago.
“I want to get with him first before I put anything out there publicly,” Reid said, “but we’re awful glad to have him here.”
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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