Brutal Hollywood Brown Injury Update Sends Rashee Rice, Xavier Worthy Fantasy Outlooks Skyrocketing

The fantasy football outlook in the Kansas City Chiefs offense just received a major shake-up.

Jul 22, 2024; St. Joseph, MO, USA; Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Marquise (Hollywood) Brown (5) walks down the hill from the locker room to the fields prior to training camp at Missouri Western State University. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-Imagn Images / Denny Medley-Imagn Images

The Kansas City Chiefs have decided to place wide receiver Hollywood Brown on injured reserve, according to Jordan Schultz. The veteran will have surgery to repair his damaged SC joint and will miss at least the next four weeks of the season (if not more). This obviously causes massive ripples in the fantasy football landscape for Brown as well as fellow Kansas City Chiefs wide receivers Rashee Rice and Xavier Worthy.

Fantasy managers who have IR spots can simply keep Brown on their rosters, but those who don’t might want to consider cutting him for a hot free agent. Remember, the Chiefs have a bye in Week 6, so Brown won’t be back until late October in a best-case scenario.

In his absence, Rashee Rice should continue to be peppered with targets from Patrick Mahomes after seeing 9 in Week 1. Considering the suspension concerns that turned out to be unwarranted, he’s going to be one of the steals of most fantasy drafts. I have him ranked as the No. 9 WR in my Week 2 fantasy football rankings.

Rookie Xavier Worthy won’t have any added competition for targets from Brown for at least the next month, making him a solid weekly flex starter moving forward. Among wide receivers, he’s ranked No. 26 for me in a Week 2 home matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Among the other Chiefs wideouts, I don’t see anyone who should be added off the wire. None of Justin Watson, JuJu Smith-Schuster or Skyy Moore played more than 28 snaps in the opener, and any good stat lines from them would be few and far between.

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