KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Initially, JuJu Smith-Schuster failed to form words, offering only a guttural grunt of excitement.
“I'm so excited, man,” Smith-Schuster said. “I'm so excited. Those guys — I mean, in camp!”
When the Chiefs host the Las Vegas Raiders for a rare noon kickoff Sunday at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, wide receivers Hollywood Brown, Rashee Rice and Xavier Worthy will be on the field together for the first time in a meaningful game.
The trio has headlined Kansas City’s roster at wide receiver for the last 26 games, including the playoffs, but they’ve never been available at the same time.
Brown suffered a shoulder injury on the first offensive snap in the preseason last year and missed the first 14 games, his first with the Chiefs.
By the time he returned, Rice had suffered a season-ending knee injury in Week 4. He’d made 24 catches for 288 yards with two touchdowns in the season’s first three games.
Meanwhile, Worthy, a speedy second-year player, settled into the offense as his rookie season progressed, enjoyed a breakout performance in Super Bowl LIX and has been a difference-maker in three games this season since rejoining the team after suffering a shoulder injury in the opener.
“To see through those three guys on the field, it’s going to be very dangerous, very scary for a lot of defense,” Smith-Schuster said.
Rice was suspended for the season’s first six games in connection with his offseason guilty plea for a March 2024 hit-and-run crash that left four people injured on a Dallas highway.
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“Shoot, we’re finally going to see all the big three that you’ve all wanted to see, so I’m looking forward to it,” Worthy said. “... Everybody's been waiting for it. This is what the hype is about. You see the offense, what we're doing now, and how we keep stacking and progressing, we’re only going to get better with him getting in the offense.”
Patrick Mahomes — who ranks among the NFL leaders in passing yards (sixth, 1,514), passing touchdowns (fifth, 11) and QBR (fourth, 76.2) — downplayed his enthusiasm to get Rice back and have the offense complete.
“I’m very excited,” Mahomes said with an ornery smile. “I’ll just leave it there.”
Without an injured Worthy and a suspended Rice, Kansas City’s offense sputtered out of the gate, but the Chiefs have averaged nearly 32 points since Worthy returned, and Rice should only help the offense find a new gear.
“It feels amazing,” said Brown, who had his first two-touchdown game in more than four years against the Lions. “Those are my brothers. We’ve all been through a lot of stuff individually, so it’s a moment we’re not going to take for granted. We’re going to play hard for each other, and we’re looking forward to it.”
Of course, with an embarrassment of riches comes pressure to get everyone involved, but the receiver room’s unique chemistry may help with that.
“Those guys love each other,” Mahomes said. “That receiving room, they love each other and want each other to do good. When you have that mindset as a whole room, you can have a lot of success.”
“We know there’s one football,” Brown said. “We’ve got a lot of alphas in the room and we understand your week is different each week, but that doesn’t change how you come to work and that doesn’t change how you play hard for each other.”
“It's just an ‘everybody eats offense,’” Worthy said. “Everybody’s going to get their turn. ... I feel like nobody in this offense is selfish. If we're out there doing what we need to do, everybody's just excited for one another.”
With Tyquan Thornton having emerged as a deep threat and Smith-Schuster remaining a reliable veteran chain-mover, Kansas City’s passing attack should generate enough sustenance to go around.
“Having [Worthy] come back into the fold and be able to play, and then Rashee coming back in the building period, they kind of felt whole, and that’s because they like each other,” Reid said. “They get along, they hang out together, they work together on their route combinations, and they’re always about stuff to get better there. They’ve got a good friendship, which will be needed now, because we’ve got more guys and we only have one football.”
Reid wouldn't commit to a usage plan for Rice, but as a veteran within the Chiefs’ scheme, it’s unlikely to take long for him to make his presence felt.
“That dude is stronger, faster, smarter,” Smith-Schuster said. “He's got it all, man. This offseason, those weeks that he's been off and away from us, he's been working so hard. He's been training with some great trainers back home, so it's pretty cool to see him do that and come back in the building. You can see that he's ready to go.”
Add in a rejuvenated Travis Kelce — who leads the Chiefs with 321 receiving yards, including six catches for a season-high 78 yards on Sunday — and defenses will be in quite a bind moving forward.
“We’ve been giving him a lot of Geritol, and he really has progressed,” Reid said with a wry smile.
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