accepted a six-game suspension for violating the NFL\u2019s personal conduct policy<\/a>. He won\u2019t be eligible to return to the field until Kansas City\u2019s matchup with Las Vegas in Week 7.<\/p>\nFrom the team\u2019s perspective, Rice\u2019s punishment is perhaps longer than they might have hoped for, but the timing is manageable. If his disciplinary hearing had not taken place until the very end of September, as was originally reported, then Kansas City faced a scenario in which a key playmaker could have been absent for an extended period in the season\u2019s second-half. As things now stand, the Chiefs\u2019 Death Star offense has a chance to be fully operational in the most important months.<\/p>\n
If you happen to be a fantasy manager heading into a weekend draft \u2014 or maybe you\u2019d already taken a flier on Rice \u2014 we finally understand the mess we need to manage. This is a good thing. The easiest time to deal with an absence is in the season\u2019s first four weeks, before the byes begin and your roster is hopelessly injured. Rice managers will need to navigate a pair of bye weeks in October, but will soon after add a potential WR1 for the remainder of the season.<\/p>\n
Now that we have all the details on the Rice suspension, I\u2019ll be slightly more aggressive drafting him than my WR36 rank would suggest, assuming a league of typical size and shape. I\u2019d be a buyer when we reach the Jaylen Waddle-Rome Odunze range.<\/p>\n
In my first live draft following the suspension news, he was taken with the No. 60 overall pick, the final selection in the fifth round (not by me). Ideally, if you\u2019re inclined to draft Rice, he\u2019d be slotted as your team\u2019s first flex. If he\u2019s the first or second receiver on your roster, you\u2019re in for a bumpy ride.<\/p>\n
A significant complicating factor with Rice is that he will not be eligible for an IR spot, so it\u2019s not as if he\u2019s not some fantasy free square. He\u2019s going to occupy a bench spot for the first six weeks, which is nearly half of your fantasy regular season. If you happen to play in a short-bench league \u2014 let\u2019s say four spots or fewer \u2014 it\u2019s fair to consider him undraftable. He\u2019s obviously untouchable in guillotine leagues as well.<\/p>\n
Rice\u2019s absence gives second-year receiver Xavier Worthy a runway to build off the stellar conclusion to his season (and postseason) and possibly consolidate power. He operates frequently at the same level of the field as Rice without actually doing the same things, so these two can coexist perfectly well.<\/p>\n
In theory, Travis Kelce should benefit over the first six weeks, as Rice had effectively usurped his role and claimed his place in KC\u2019s receiving hierarchy. Kelce also looked a little fossilized last season, so he\u2019s hardly a lock to claim any vacated targets. Utah State rookie Jalen Royals suddenly has an opening, although he\u2019s batting knee tendinitis. He\u2019s more of a watch-list player, not a draft target. The same goes for training camp star Tyquan Thornton.<\/p>\n
We shouldn\u2019t see dramatic shifts in anyone\u2019s wide receiver rankings this week, because a four or six-week Rice suspension should have been assumed. If you\u2019d already drafted, this news can be considered sweet relief.<\/p>\n
Rice\u2019s situation is of course just one of several early season fantasy problems with which we\u2019re contending. Various other fantasy relevant players are expected to be sidelined for as-yet-undetermined periods of time (unless they aren\u2019t), either due to league discipline, contract concerns or ambiguous injuries.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a snapshot of my current level of discomfort with these situations, expressed via the round in which I\u2019d be willing to draft the player in a typical 12-team league:<\/p>\n
Rashee Rice: Disciplinary predicament resolved. Too talented to ignore and the team context is too good. Again, I\u2019ll take him near the round 5\/6 turn.<\/p>\n
Jakobi Meyers: Issued a performative trade request with contract negotiations stalled, but continues to practice. Only the mildest concern. Round 7-ish.<\/p>\n
Jordan Addison: Facing a three-game suspension. Also contending with a 22-year-old quarterback. Same neighborhood as Jakobi, round 7.<\/p>\n
Joe Mixon: Placed on the Reserve\/Non-Football Injury list, resulting in a minimum four-game absence. The severity of the issue remains unclear, but the team hasn\u2019t been particularly aggressive backing him up (Nick Chubb, Dameon Pierce, Woody Marks). I\u2019d be interested in Mixon in the 10th round \u2014 and if my league offered multiple IR spots, maybe the ninth.<\/p>\n
Quinshon Judkins: Remains unsigned as of this writing. He\u2019s clear of criminal charges, but not necessarily league discipline. Zero chance at early season production. He might still be an every-week RB2 in the second-half, however. It\u2019s a long time to wait. I\u2019d put him in the queue in the ninth, but probably not draft him until the 11th.<\/p>\n
Jauan Jennings: May or may not be injured and he may or may not want out of San Francisco. The team has not yet blinked. Either way, Ricky Pearsall is gonna be a star. I don\u2019t think Jennings is a headache worth accepting. I\u2019m not interested until round 11 or later, which is never early enough to get him.<\/p>\n
Najee Harris: Activated from the NFI list and returned to practice. He\u2019s never missed a regular season game in his NFL career and doesn\u2019t seem ready to give up the streak. He should eventually play enough to frustrate the Omarion Hampton managers, if not enough to become a locked-in fantasy starter. On my board, it\u2019s still the 11th or 12th round.<\/p>\n
Jason Sanders: Placed on IR with a hip injury, so he\u2019s unable to kick for the Dolphins over the first four weeks. For me, that would typically land him on the do-not-draft list. Jake Ciely, however, has declared Sanders to be his favorite draft-and-stash kicker for 2025. Where kickers are concerned, I will always defer to Ciely, a true specialist\u2019s specialist. Sanders stays in round 16.<\/p>\n
(Photo of Rashee Rice: Jamie Squire\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of the NFL\u2019s murkiest offseason storylines was finally clarified on Wednesday. Rashee Rice has accepted a six-game…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":102337,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,1238,622,596,1255,1240,1250,3052,1239,1262,85],"class_list":["post-102336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cleveland-browns","tag-fantasy-football","tag-football","tag-houston-texans","tag-kansas-city-chiefs","tag-las-vegas-raiders","tag-los-angeles-chargers","tag-minnesota-vikings","tag-san-francisco-49ers","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102336\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}