Brett Veach wasn’t surprised, in fact he saw it coming.

Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice will serve a six-game suspension to start the season for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy.
Andy Reid almost retired when Kansas City Chiefs coach found out how badly underpaid he was
The general manager was aware this could happen, which made for the very rare exception of keeping eight receivers on Kansas City’s 53-man roster.The WR room bow includes Rice, Xavier Worthy, Hollywood Brown, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Tyquan Thornton, Nikko Remigio, Jason Brownlee and rookie Jalen Royals.

Veach spoke to the media on Thursday and revealed that the team was informed that Rice’s six-game suspension would start Week 1.

“It wasn’t a surprise,” Veach said.

“It was communicated to us, and we were certainly made aware a few days prior to cut-down day that this was a better than a 50% shot that this would get resolved before the kickstart of the season.”

To make room for eight wide receivers, Veach went deep into his bag of tricks and exploited a little-known rule allowing accrued veterans to be released rather than waived.

The Chiefs released veteran tight end Robert Tonyan and veteran safety Mike Edwards, who were then both immediately added to Kansas City’s practice squad.

Rice will then soon be added to the league’s Reserve/Suspension list, making way for one additional spot on the roster that will in all likelihood see Veach using it to elevate Tonyan.

Roster gymnastics at its finest.

However, Rice’s absence still poses a challenge to head coach Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes, as they learn to navigate the early portion of the season without their star wideout.

Reid will have to use his other weapons on offense while Rice is awayCredit: Getty

Rice can’t come back until Week 7Credit: Getty
Veach believes the other guys in the room will step up when called upon.

“JuJu (Smith-Schuster) and (Jalen) Royals are guys,” Veach said.

“I think both of those guys have a similar skill-set. Obviously JuJu’s been here for a while, and JuJu — to his credit — I think he looked better with this camp than he did the last camp he was here.

“He’s really taking care of his body, so that’s a good thing because we’re getting JuJu fresh and at the beginning of the season.”

Rice won’t be eligible to return until Week 7 when they welcome Pete Carroll and the Las Vegas Raiders on Oct. 19.

Rice burst onto the scene in his rookie year in 2023 with 79 receptions for 938 yards and seven touchdown catches. He was expected to take an even bigger leap last season before suffering a season-ending injury in Week 4.

He tore the lateral collateral ligament in his right knee and finished with 24 receptions for 288 yards and two touchdowns in four games.

Reid, Mahomes and company know how to stay afloat without Rice. They’ve done it before, that’s nothing new.

The challenge will be all the pieces, new and old, coming together and forming a capable offense that was once one of the best in the league.

It’s been a while since the light show in Kansas City took place, and we may have to wait a little while longer until Rice returns.