Here we are once again, back with another addition of the ol’ mysterious social post from a star athlete. Whether on Instagram or Twitter, such posts always draw a significant reaction from a team’s fan base in one direction or another based on the player and situation. Now we’re here again with Rashee Rice.

This happens several times a year in some regard. It’s the supposedly unhappy cornerback who says “I’m ready” and fans spend the next few days trying to fill in the rest of that statement. It’s when Hollywood Brown posts a clock emoji and you’re left wondering if that means he’s coming back soon or whether he just needs to set his alarm. You get the drift.

Sometimes these things are easier to decipher than others, but it’s all guesswork and we’d do well to remember that before diving into the following from Rashee Rice. First, here’s the cryptic post along with the first stages of “What do we have here?” from Chiefs Kingdom.

Let’s get our facts in order here. Rashee Rice is the Chiefs’ most reliable wide receiver who is currently lost for the year due to a severe knee injury—to be specific, it was a posterolateral corner (PLC) injury. From there, Rice had successful surgery and was declared out for the year, with head coach Andy Reid saying that Rice’s timeline would be similar to that of an ACL injury.

Given that Rice was lost in the first month of the season, it made sense to mentally put him on the shelf for 2025 and leave things there. After all, if Rice’s first real injury update was given in mid-October, it sounds ridiculous to start to discuss a potential return in mid-December but here we are.

Still that hasn’t stopped fans from running with the idea (of course, we’d all love to see it):

This guy is also hearing that Alex Smith will be retaking his starting spot.

In all the chaos, not all voices have gone over the edge of the cliff, at least.

Let’s be very clear here: Rashee Rice has only been on the mend for two months after being given an original timeline of a typical ACL tear. While great strides have been made in the world of ACL recoveries, we’re pretty sure this would be a record is Rice was able to come back anytime soon for the Chiefs—even well into the postseason. We’re not sure what Rice meant, but signaling a comeback in the ’24 season was likely not it.