Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice will officially miss the first six weeks of the 2025 season with a suspension, which means we can finally evaluate him properly in fantasy football. At his best, Rice has legitimate league-winning upside, but he can only play in a maximum of 11 games, and that’s assuming he’s fully recovered from last year’s season-ending knee injury.
Where to Draft Rahsee Rice In Fantasy Football Following Suspension News
Before discussing the suspension itself, it’s important to establish just how good Rashee Rice can be in fantasy football. The wide receiver started and finished three games last year, hauling in 24 of his 29 targets for 288 yards and two touchdowns. If extrapolated to a 17-game sample, he would’ve finished with a staggering 136 receptions for 1,632 yards and 11 touchdowns. Basing a full season of work off three games is admittedly risky, but his entire career paints a similar picture. Rice has averaged 16.4 PPR points per game over his last 17 healthy contests. For comparison, that would have put him between Drake London and Terry McLaurin last year as the WR8.
Despite playing in just 20 career games, Rice has already established himself as the preferred target for Patrick Mahomes, and that shouldn’t change any time soon. With Travis Kelce getting older and likely retiring after the season, Rashee Rice will continue to be the focal point of this offense when on the field and has a legitimate shot of being a top-five fantasy football receiver on a per-game basis.
While he is coming off a season-ending knee injury, that shouldn’t keep you from drafting him. Rice suffered the injury early in the 2024 season, meaning he’s had plenty of time to recover and is already back at full strength. He played 20 snaps in the preseason, and the team wouldn’t take on this type of risk if there were any questions about the structural integrity of his knee.
When Is the Risk Worth the Reward?
A player like this can singlehandedly win you a league, but that’s only possible if you make the playoffs. Anyone drafting Rashee Rice in fantasy football knows they’re essentially wasting a roster spot for the first six weeks of the season, and that can singlehandedly ruin your season – just ask anyone who drafted Christian McCaffrey last year.
As of this posting, it’s too early to know how the suspension affects Rashee Rice’s average draft position. However, given his upside, you should be comfortable taking him in the fifth round. By that point in the draft, all the star players should be off the board, and you’ll likely be choosing between a player with league-winning upside like Rice or a slightly-above-average WR2 or RB2. Chances are, that WR2 or RB2 won’t be substantially better than whoever you can get one round later, and they won’t come close to matching Rice’s production when the suspension is over. Maybe drafting Rashee Rice in fantasy football means you won’t have the best record in your league, but his presence will help you win the championship down the stretch.
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