How Patrick Mahomes' Injury Impacts Rashee Rice, Travis Kelce in Fantasy Football

As Patrick Mahomes has fallen out for the season, many players suffer in their Fantasy Football Rankings.

Dec 14, 2025; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice (4) runs for yards after the catch against the Los Angeles Chargers during the first quarter at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images | Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

The Chiefs are now without Patrick Mahomes for the remainder of the season and it has a big impact on the other skill players within that offense. Rashee Rice, Travis Kelce, and many others will have a notable downtick in output, and it very well may damage your Fantasy Football Championship hopes. As far as how much it will affect these players, that is to be determined. That determination is something that I will aim to do today.

Projecting the New Chiefs Offense

So this is crazy… both Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes won 3 Super Bowls early in their careers and then tore their ACLs in their 9th seasons with both teams missing the playoffs that year pic.twitter.com/SIFhnvShXl

— trey wingo (@wingoz) December 15, 2025

There are many factors to go into a deep-analysis of this new passing offense. We will consider as many as possible.

On his career, Gardner Minshew averages (6.0) Yards per Attempts, lesser than Mahomes' (7.1). However, Minshew has also played on worse teams such as the Raiders and Jaguars, to name a couple. Nonetheless, he will be worse.

With Minshew at the helm, this is also expected to be a simpler offense. He is the not the 3X Super Bowl Champion that Mahomes is. Though in limited fashion, Minshew went 3-5 with 22 Yards and 1 Interception in his Week 15 appearance.

Reasonably, I would expect the Chiefs to have anywhere from a 10-20% dip in offensive passing efficiency.

Reevaluating Chiefs' Fantasy Football Players

As Gardner Minshew throws an interception to end the #Chiefs season… pic.twitter.com/brEbD0rvUE

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 14, 2025

Rashee Rice is the Chiefs' number one pass-catcher. He is averaging (9.6) Targets, (6.6) Receptions, and (67) Yards per Game. In PPR formats, Rice is the WR6 in Points per Game.

If we factor in the expected dip, Rice falls from mid-WR1 range to low-end WR1, high-end WR2 range.

Travis Kelce is the second pass-catcher on the Chiefs. He is averaging (6.4) Targets, (4.8) Receptions, and (57) Yards per Game. In Points per Game, Kelce is the TE5.

If we factor in the expected dip, Kelce falls from TE5 to TE8-12 range.

Hollywood Brown and Xavier Worthy are both averaging around (5) Targets, (3.5) Receptions, and (40) Yards per Game. They are both around WR50 range in Fantasy Football.

If we factor in the expected dip, they fall closer to WR65-70 range. They are both worth a roster spot, but are mostly bench pieces with Flex upside in a favorable matchup.

Chiefs Upcoming Schedule

This is who the Chiefs have to finish out the season. Their ranking is their FPI defensive rating.

• vs Titans (29th)
• vs Broncos (5th)
• @ Raiders (20th)

If you are alive in the Fantasy Football Playoffs, you have a great matchup this week that may offset any downtick expected with Minshew. I would expect that a Mahomes-less Chiefs team versus the Titans may equal a Chiefs team with Mahomes against a Top-10 defense.

As for the Broncos matchup, this highly devalues many Chiefs players. Rice is the only must-start. Even Kelce could be considered to be sat in that Week 17 game. Stay tuned to our weekly rankings, posting on Tuesday's.