Chiefs coach Andy Reid says WR Rashee Rice and LT Josh Simmons are ready for training camp

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Andy Reid expects to have wide receiver Rashee Rice and first-round draft pick Josh Simmons fully available when the Kansas City Chiefs report to training camp at Missouri Western State University the last full week of July.

Rice is coming off a torn ACL that limited him to four games last season, while Simmons tore a patellar tendon last season with Ohio State, which likely caused the left tackle's draft stock to slide far enough for the Chiefs to pick him No. 32 overall.

“I think they're both ready to go,” Reid said after putting his players through a final conditioning test Thursday, which wrapped up three days of mandatory minicamp. “They actually got great work in these camps here.”

The Chiefs had hoped that Rice would become the centerpiece of a revamped offense last season, and he was trending that way with 24 catches for 288 yards and two TDs through three games. But early in the fourth, after Patrick Mahomes had thrown an interception, the QB collided with Rice as they were trying to make a tackle in a game against the Chargers.

The injury wound up being devastating for Kansas City, which had already lost No. 2 wide receiver Marquise Brown to a shoulder injury on the first play of the preseason, which ultimately kept him out until the stretch run.

The Chiefs wound up relying more heavily than they would have liked on then-first-round pick Xavier Worthy, who emerged as a breakout star. He led Chiefs wide receivers with 59 catches for 638 yards and all players with six TD receptions.

Now, Rice and Brown are healthy again, and a more experienced Worthy suddenly gives Kansas City three top wide receivers. And with the return of a trimmed-down tight end Travis Kelce for his 13th season in the NFL, the Chiefs believe the pieces are in place to push their formerly high-flying offense back among the best in the NFL.

“That's the goal. You want to be the top offense in the league when you step in the building every day. But at the end of the day, you want to win the Super Bowl,” Mahomes said. “Our goal is to do whatever we can to win the football game, and hopefully for us, that's being the top offense to go with the defense we have.”

Simmons could play a big part in that, and not just because he is 6-foot-5 and 320 pounds.

The Chiefs struggled mightily at left tackle last season, where second-round pick Kingsley Suamataia was benched and second-year pro Wanya Morris fared little better. The Chiefs eventually resorted to pushing standout left guard Joe Thuney to tackle and using Mike Caliendo in his place at guard, but they likewise struggled in their Super Bowl loss to the Eagles.

The Chiefs traded Thuney to the Bears earlier in the offseason, a move made largely for financial reasons. That opened up a spot at guard, and Caliendo and Suamataia are expected to compete for that starting role once training camp begins.

As for left tackle, Reid seemed to indicate that Simmons would be his preferred choice to lock down the job.

“Listen, you can see his athletic ability. You can see his want-to,” Reid said. "He approached everything the right way, plus a little extra. You can look at his rehab and he had a mindset of, ‘I’m going to get in there. It's not going to be training camp. It's going to be now.' He worked his tail off to get in there, and you respect that part. He's done a nice job in there.

“We'll see,” Reid added. “We'll see what training camp does to him. It's different when things are flying up there.”

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Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) hands the ball off to wide receiver Rashee Rice, right, during NFL football practice, Thursday, June 12, 2025, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Colin E. Braley)

Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice participates during NFL football practice, Thursday, June 12, 2025, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Colin E. Braley)

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump on Sunday fired off another warning to the government of Cuba as the close ally of Venezuela braces for potential widespread unrest after Nicolás Maduro was deposed as Venezuela's leader.

Cuba, a major beneficiary of Venezuelan oil, has now been cut off from those shipments as U.S. forces continue to seize tankers in an effort to control the production, refining and global distribution of the country's oil products.

Trump said on social media that Cuba long lived off Venezuelan oil and money and had offered security in return, “BUT NOT ANYMORE!”

“THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA - ZERO!” Trump said in the post as he spent the weekend at his home in southern Florida. “I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.” He did not explain what kind of deal.

The Cuban government said 32 of its military personnel were killed during the American operation last weekend that captured Maduro. The personnel from Cuba’s two main security agencies were in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, as part of an agreement between Cuba and Venezuela.

“Venezuela doesn’t need protection anymore from the thugs and extortionists who held them hostage for so many years,” Trump said Sunday. “Venezuela now has the United States of America, the most powerful military in the World (by far!), to protect them, and protect them we will.”

Trump also responded to another account’s social media post predicting that his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, will be president of Cuba: “Sounds good to me!” Trump said.

Trump and top administration officials have taken an increasingly aggressive tone toward Cuba, which had been kept economically afloat by Venezuela. Long before Maduro's capture, severe blackouts were sidelining life in Cuba, where people endured long lines at gas stations and supermarkets amid the island’s worst economic crisis in decades.

Trump has said previously that the Cuban economy, battered by years of a U.S. embargo, would slide further with the ouster of Maduro.

“It’s going down,” Trump said of Cuba. “It’s going down for the count.”

A person watches the oil tanker Ocean Mariner, Monrovia, arrive to the bay in Havana, Cuba, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

President Donald Trump attends a meeting with oil executives in the East Room of the White House, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)