{"id":904042,"date":"2026-05-29T03:00:28","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T03:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/904042\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T03:00:28","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T03:00:28","slug":"andy-reid-using-rashee-rices-absence-to-see-what-jalen-royals-can-do-with-chiefs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/904042\/","title":{"rendered":"Andy Reid using Rashee Rice’s absence to see what Jalen Royals can do with Chiefs"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Kansas City Chiefs are already in the midst of their preparations for the upcoming NFL season, completing their first sessions of OTAs. Head coach Andy Reid discussed a range of topics, from Patrick Mahomes\u2019 progress<\/a> to Jalen Royals getting repetitions with the first-team offense, taking advantage of the absence of Rashee Rice.<\/p>\n

Last season, everyone expected Jalen Royals to be the natural replacement for Rashee Rice<\/a> during Rice\u2019s suspension. Knee tendinitis put a stop to that, but right now, he is taking advantage of the fact that Rashee Rice is not at OTAs.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, so they\u2019re rotating in with the first group,\u201d Reid said. \u201cAnd Rashee Rice is not here. It gives Jalen Royals some great reps with the wide receiver position. Strong, he looks strong out there and running well, and that whole deal. So, it\u2019s great for him. It\u2019s great for him and for the quarterbacks to see what he\u2019s all about on repeated reps.\u201d<\/p>\n

When will the Chiefs return to their OTAs<\/p>\n

The Kansas City Chiefs<\/a> officially concluded their first of two weeks of OTAs on Thursday, May 28. The team will reconvene on Monday, June 1, for their second week of OTAs before a five-day break between OTAs and mandatory minicamp.<\/p>\n

\"Jalen<\/p>\n

Jalen Royals of Kansas City Chiefs.<\/p>\n

A golden opportunity for Royals<\/p>\n

A fourth-round pick out of Utah State in 2025, Jalen Royals caught two passes on three targets for four yards during his NFL<\/a> rookie season. This year, it seems like he will have an opportunity to secure a larger role in the offense.<\/p>\n

He needs to stay healthy regarding his knee, but it feels especially true if he continues to take advantage of these early offseason practice days and builds on them going forward.<\/p>\n

Andy Reid on Patrick Mahomes\u2019 recovery<\/p>\n

Patrick Mahomes is participating in practice, but only in a limited capacity. Coach Andy Reid<\/a> does not like to use the \u201cahead of schedule\u201d phrasing; however, it is clear that Patrick Mahomes is making tremendous progress as he returns from a season-ending knee injury. \u201cI like what I\u2019ve seen,\u201d Reid said of Mahomes.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s working hard. This is good for him, I mean, getting out there and throwing it\u2019s good rehab, as he continues rehab, so he keeps a feel with the receivers, where he\u2019s doing partial practice, and, but it\u2019s important, it\u2019s important to keep his timing up, and he\u2019s busted his tail to put himself in this position, most guys wouldn\u2019t even be able to do this, but he\u2019s put himself in that position, and I know we\u2019ve got good communication with the doctors, and they\u2019re, you know, they keep a close eye on it, and what\u2019s real and what\u2019s not real, so and then we just, we listen to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Patrick Mahomes participated in 7-7 team drills, but he is not cleared to participate in 11-11 yet. That is not so much about his ability to run or cut as it is to protect him from incidental contact, and Reid said it is to avoid plays with any fly or sweep motion that could lead to a collision in the backfield.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Kansas City Chiefs are already in the midst of their preparations for the upcoming NFL season, completing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":904043,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2063],"tags":[501,346,7,118,110,2438,2437,6,4000],"class_list":["post-904042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-kansas-city-chiefs","tag-andy-reid","tag-chiefs","tag-football","tag-kansas-city","tag-kansas-city-chiefs","tag-kansascity","tag-kansascitychiefs","tag-nfl","tag-rashee-rice"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116655634851209596","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/904042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=904042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/904042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/904043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=904042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=904042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=904042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}