Rashee Rice suffered an injury against the Chargers and Chiefs fans have been waiting for updates from NFL insiders like Adam Schefter and Ian Rapoport. And they duly delivered with their takes before Kansas City's game against the New Orleans Saints on Monday Night Football in Week 5 of the 2024 NFL season.
However, both updates seemed to slightly contradict each other. Adam Schefter posted on X,
"After consulting today with doctors, there’s “a lot of optimism” that standout WR Rashee Rice didn’t suffer a knee injury as significant as first believed, per source. Rice will be put under anesthesia Tuesday to determine the extent of his injury, but the belief now is it could be a “much shorter” recovery timeline than originally thought."
While Adam Schefter's comments made it seem that the extent of the injury, which was expected to rule the Chiefs player out for the entire season, was not as severe as initially thought, Ian Rapoport followed that up with his post, saying,
"Sources: While #Chiefs star WR Rashee Rice’s season is expected to be over, he did receive positive news today from Dr. Dan Cooper... Rice needs his LCL repaired, but there is a chance that’s the only ligament to be repaired. He’s expected to make a full recovery."
Based on what Ian Rapoport said, the wide receiver is still likely to be out for the season but there is a chance that only the LCL will need to be repaired rather than the whole thing.
The ensuing confusion had fans asking for clarity on X. Some directly asked the NFL Insiders about it, asking them which one they should believe.
Some fans were irate that they were left in the same dilemma about whether Rashee Rice would be back this season even after both their updates. Here are some more responses on X.
"Rapoport just said his season is expected to be over" - said one user
"Well that’s conflicting with what @RapSheet just put out" - noted another
"This is getting annoying. Tell us what the injury is or stfu" - vented a fan
"So is he missing the rest of the season or not?" - queried another supporter
"Didn’t Schefter just say otherwise ?" - questioned a commenter
Adam Schefter and Ian Rapoport agree on positive news for Rashee Rice
While the NFL insiders had seemingly conflicting posts, they both agreed that there is positive news for Rashee Rice. While Adam Schefter did not mention a timeline for the wide receiver's return, he noted that it is not as bad as previously thought.
Ian Rapoport, on the other hand, went into the details of what that might mean, saying that the operation might be confined to just the lateral collateral ligament instead, which is reportedly easier to repair. While that would still mean that the player is out for the season, it would imply that it is less severe than previously thought. On that point, both the original posters look to agree.
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