Doctor believes KC Chiefs’ Rashee Rice likely didn’t suffer season-ending injury

Chiefs coach Andy Reid said Monday that wide receiver Rashee Rice was undergoing tests on his injured knee, so he couldn’t share an official diagnosis.

One doctor believes Rice’s ACL was not torn.

“I’ll be damned. Rice likely avoided an ACL tear. This is why we confirm with imaging ,” Dr. Edwin Porras wrote on X. “If MRI doesn’t confirm ACL the next day, the likelihood of it being completely ruptured is low. This is a general sports-med rule of thumb.”

Porras is a doctor of physical therapy who The Athletic noted was hired in 2022 by the Minnesota Twins to assist rehabbing minor leaguers at their facility in Fort Myers, Florida.

In a YouTube video, Porras talked more about Rice and what could have happened to his knee Sunday during the Chiefs’ 17-10 win over the Chargers.

“What I don’t want you to take away is that it’s not a serious injury, because it is,” Porras said. “He could still have a partial ACL (tear). He could still have a PCL issue, he could still have a hamstring issue. What you need to know about Rashee Rice is that once you get the MRI, generally speaking, most of the time, the swelling isn’t an issue when you want to look at the ACL. They know whether his ACL is intact or not intact. What they’re ... discussing is what the rest of his knee looks like.

“That specific mechanism, it honestly, unfortunately, just hits on everything. It could be PCL, think (Rams’) Puka Nacua. It could be hamstring and MCL, think (Falcons’) Kyle Pitts last year. What we understand from the situation with Rashee Rice is that it doesn’t seem like the ACL is involved. At least they haven’t confirmed that. Now, again, I want to emphasize this doesn’t mean that he’s not done for four, five, six, seven, eight weeks. What it does give him is a chance and an opportunity to come back by the fantasy playoffs, I think, at the latest. And that really helps the Chiefs, from a general perspective, from just an NFL perspective, fantasy aside. So again, Rashee Rice at this point, we would know if it was an ACL.”

However, Jesse Morse, a sports medicine physician who covers NFL injuries for the website Injury Expertz , said in an X post that it’s possible Rice’s knee was too swollen to get a clear look at the ligament.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t hear any specifics until after Week 5, the Chiefs already know he’s out likely through their bye at the minimum,” Morse wrote.

Morse also said fantasy football fans shouldn’t cut Rice from their team, a sign that the Chiefs could get him back this season.

And Porras summed up his report on Rice by saying he thinks Rice could return at some point.

“We’re going to get more information as it trickles out, but as of right now, it doesn’t seem like Rashee Rice’s injury is season ending as of now,” Porras said. “But he still can be out for a while.”