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When is Rashee Rice coming back? Will Rashee Rice play again this season? Read about Rashee Rice's return date and injury updates for 2026.
Fantasy managers drafted Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice, hoping that he would get the target share needed to re-establish himself as a potential top-10 fantasy wide receiver after showing that potential to start the 2024 season.
Rice was starting to see his role creep up gradually during the start of the season before an injury in Week 4 took him off the field. Unfortunately, a Week 5 bye week wasn’t enough to get him healthy enough to return in Week 6.
How long will Rashee Rice be out? Is he going to play in Week 7? Read below to find out.
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Rashee Rice Injury Update for Fantasy Football
Rashee Rice started slow in 2026, but was gradually seeing his role in the Kansas City Chiefs’ offense tick upward through the first three weeks. Rice caught just two passes for 19 yards and a touchdown in Week 1, but totaled 15 targets, 11 receptions, and 171 receiving yards over the next two games while averaging a 78.0% snap share.
Unfortunately, the veteran wide receiver suffered a hamstring injury just six snaps into Week 4’s matchup against the Las Vegas Raiders. There was initial optimism that Rice wouldn’t have to miss time thanks to a Week 5 bye week for Kansas City, but he did not practice and was ultimately ruled out before Week 6’s matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers.
After the game, head coach Andy Reid expressed optimism that Rice would be available for Week 7’s game against the Seattle Seahawks. Fantasy managers will want to watch his practice participation closely heading into that game.
Rashee Rice Fantasy Football Outlook
Fantasy managers hoped that 2026 would be a bounce-back year for Rashee Rice. Rice had a strong rookie season in 2023 (102 targets, 79 receptions, 938 receiving yards, and seven touchdowns), but was limited to just 12 games in 2024 and 2025.
The results were encouraging on the field, but he struggled to be more than a volume-based point scorer out of the slot.
Unfortunately, Rice got off to a slow start to the 2026 season after a tumultuous offseason. Rice underwent minor knee surgery in May to clean up his right knee after reporting swelling during the offseason. Shortly after, Rice was forced to serve a 30-day jail sentence for violating probation, meaning he would have to rehab in jail.
He ultimately returned to his normal role to start the NFL season, but was falling short of expectations in fantasy. Rice was the WR24 in PPR points per game (12.6) while averaging a modest 16.3% target share and a career-low 2.35 yards per route run in the Chiefs’ run-heavy offense. He had just one week where he finished as a top-24 wide receiver in fantasy.
The most encouraging signs for Rice were the fact that his target share continued to grow each week until his injury. His 11.88 yards per target was also a career-high, and his 6.94 average depth of target was his highest since 2023.
Rashee Rice has the Chiefs near midfield
INDvsKC on CBS/Paramount+
https://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt https://t.co/ojQEsKoY63— NFL (@NFL) November 23, 2025
Fantasy managers need to hope that a healthy Rice returns to a Chiefs’ offense that is more willing to lean on the play-action passing attack now that they have established a devastating rushing attack led by Kenneth Walker III. That would allow Rice to hopefully earn enough target volume to consistently be a top-20 fantasy option.
Who Should I Start Tool
Compare up to four players and we'll tell you who to start...
Week 7 Player Decisions. Today's focus is on specific players: DK Metcalf, Rashee Rice, Emeka Egbuka, and Rome Odunze. These are some of the most common searches for fantasy football lineups in Week 7.
Using The Tool. This is a simple tool but very powerful. The first step is to enter the player names that you want to compare. In the first box, search for the first player name. In the second box, search for the second player name. Compare up to four NFL players at once, and then click the Who To Start? button to see who the recommended starts are based on weekly fantasy football matchups.
Improvements For Who Should I Start? You may have noticed that our 'Who Should I Start?' tool has gotten an overhaul. We've added lots of great features for you to give you as much information as possible to win your fantasy football matchups each week. You'll see NFL player tiles with headshots and bye weeks, stats, projections, strength of schedule, player news, and enhanced search results with data to compare with a slick new interface. We hope you enjoy!
How It Works. Each week, our RotoBaller staff puts together their weekly fantasy football rankings and projections based on their research. That information is the core data that is powering the decision-making in this tool. When you search for player names, you will only see those players who are ranked. If someone is out for the week, they will not appear in the search results.
Scoring Formats. Fantasy football managers play in various types of leagues, and this tool allows you to choose whether it's PPR scoring, Half-PPR scoring, or Standard (Non-PPR) scoring. The second thing you want to do is select the scoring format. There are three small radio buttons (small circle), so click on the scoring format you prefer. The results may vary based on the scoring format you select.
Popular Week 7 Searches. Curious to see some tough lineup decisions for Week 7 (2026)? Below you will find a list of some popular Who Should I Start? searches that RotoBaller readers are looking at this week. Click any of the links to see the result and recommendation.
Popular Week 7 Searches - Start/Sit Player Comparisons
Below are some popular searches and comparisons from our Who To Start tool for Week 7 for DK Metcalf, Rashee Rice, Emeka Egbuka, and Rome Odunze:
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