The Kansas City Chiefs just took a gut punch before boarding their flight to Sao Paulo. One player won’t be seen on the field against the Los Angeles Chargers on Friday. And the timing couldn’t be more dramatic. The news hit just after the Chiefs’ own #15, Patrick Mahomes, had dropped a bold message: “They’ve got depth at edge, d-tackle… it’ll be a test for the guys. Excited for the challenge and for the guys to get to go out there and showcase who they are.” The locker room was ready against the one AFC West rival that hasn’t sniffed victory over them since 2021.

But the situation now seems to have taken a reverse turn because what began as a minor camp concern with rookie wideout Jalen Royals has suddenly turned into a full-blown problem. Coach Andy Reid confirmed Royals had been battling knee tendinitis and already skipped the preseason finale on Aug. 22. But then came the hit: the team’s official X account dropped the news nobody wanted to see — “WR Jalen Royals will not travel with the team. He is ruled OUT for Friday night’s game.” That announcement stings more than usual. Royals becomes the second Chiefs receiver on the shelf before Week 1 even kicks off.

Rashee Rice is already suspended for the first six games after violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy for his involvement in last year’s car crash. Now Royals, who was expected to be a sneaky weapon in Andy Reid’s system, won’t even make the trip. With two key names already sidelined, the Chiefs’ wide receiver room is being tested before the season even gets rolling. But Kansas City didn’t walk into 2025 blind. The Chiefs have actually built their roster with turbulence in mind, keeping eight wideouts on the final 53-man list last week.

Xavier Worthy, Hollywood Brown, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Tyquan Thornton, Nikko Remigio, and Jason Brownlee round out the room alongside Rice and Royals. Brown’s health is its own subplot right now. He’s coming off an ankle injury that wiped out his preseason reps, but Andy Reid brushed off any concern. “I think it will be OK,” Reid said. “If he was younger I’d probably be a little more worried about it. But he’s a veteran guy that kind of knows how to go about it, and I think he should be fine. And we’ve got guys who can rotate in, mix and match as we go.”

This isn’t new ground for KC. Just last year, Brown suffered a dislocated clavicle on the very first snap of preseason and wound up missing 14 games. Rice barely touched the field either, sidelined by a knee issue for all but three contests. In their absence, Worthy emerged as WR1, hauling in 59 catches as a rookie. That experience is why Reid and his staff are quite comfortable with the kind of storm they’re facing now.

The thin tightrope Patrick Mahomes and the chiefs are walking on

Kansas City isn’t walking into 2025 with the same firepower they had a year ago. Travis Kelce is 35, running on borrowed time. Hollywood Brown? Already flirting with the injury report. Xavier Worthy? Still trying to swim in NFL waters that only get deeper and darker. Andy Reid’s playbook is fat, but his weapons look thin, and let’s be real, the September storm rolling in doesn’t care about resumes. For Mahomes, it means carrying more than ever—because when the cast is shaky, the star has no choice but to steal the whole show.

And here’s where it gets tricky. In his first five years, Mahomes has shredded defenses from every angle, topping PFF grades with ease. Since then? His clean-pocket grade slipped to 10th at 93.1. Still elite, but not untouchable. This is the nitpicking tier where legends live—where every crack gets magnified under the lights. If Mahomes is going to keep Kansas City on top, that’s where he has to sharpen the blade again.

And the season doesn’t even give him a soft launch. The opener is in L.A., the same setting where his career started. Reid warned what’s coming: “They’re a zone team, but the zones are tight… You can see why they were ranked so high.” Translation? The Chargers’ defense is a locked vault, and Mahomes has to find the key. To make matters wilder, rookie tackle Josh Simmons gets thrown straight into the fire—lining up against Khalil Mack, a man with 107.5 sacks and nine of them against the Chiefs. That’s like showing up to your first day of school only to find the principal waiting to fail you. History leans red—Reid’s owned the Chargers seven straight times—but the question is simple: can Mahomes still bend the impossible back in Kansas City’s favor?