{"id":40044,"date":"2025-12-19T11:52:18","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T11:52:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=40044"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:52:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T11:52:18","slug":"rookie-wideout-ready-to-fill-void-for-chiefs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=40044","title":{"rendered":"Rookie Wideout Ready to Fill Void for Chiefs"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

\"Nov<\/p>\n

KANSAS CITY, Mo. \u2013 Like a certificate of deposit, Jalen Royals has sat mostly idle while slowly accruing interest during the first 14 games of his rookie season. The wide receiver\u2019s maturity date could be Sunday.<\/p>\n

Both Rashee Rice and Tyquan Thornton are in concussion protocol and neither wide receiver has practiced this week. As a result, neither player is on track to play at Tennessee on Sunday (12 p.m. CT, CBS\/KCTV, Channel 5, 96.5 The Fan). Their position coach said Royals could be looking at an open door.<\/p>\n

\"jalen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cHe’s been working his tail off at practice,\u201d said Connor Embree on Thursday. \u201cSuper-smart kid, stays locked in at meetings. \u2026 We’ll see these next three games if he gets the opportunity to go out there and go make some plays.\u201d<\/p>\n

He had that opportunity during training camp, capitalizing on another injuries to Hollywood Brown and Skyy Moore to develop important chemistry with Patrick Mahomes. Then, an injury hit Royals.<\/p>\n

Watch Matt Nagy discuss below…<\/h3>\n

The rookie developed knee tendinitis late in the preseason and missed the Chiefs\u2019 first three regular-season games.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was having a great training camp, great preseason,\u201d Embree said, \u201cand he was kind of in a rhythm. Him and Pat were on the same page with stuff. And then I think it was just bad timing. \u2026 He worked his way through it got through and I really like where he’s at.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"jalen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Where he\u2019s at is ready to catch his first NFL pass. He got a kickoff return in his NFL debut, Week 4 against Baltimore, but hasn\u2019t been targeted in his four games. He was active but didn\u2019t play in last week\u2019s loss to the Chargers.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou want to see more time from him, if possible,\u201d offensive coordinator Matt Nagy said Thursday. \u201cWe feel very fortunate with the guys that we’ve had for the middle of the season on when Rashee came back.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd some of it’s just a numbers thing for him, and it’s almost like a redshirt year, in a way. He’s practicing hard, but there’s a lot of good stuff there with him. And I’m excited to see what he’s going to do, whether it’s these next three games or the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"jalen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At Utah State…<\/h3>\n

Royals has a bright past, too. The year before a foot injury truncated his final season at Utah State, he was the nation\u2019s only player in 2023 to reach 70 receptions and 15-plus touchdown catches.<\/p>\n

A 6-0, 195-pound receiver, the Chiefs liked Royals\u2019 size when they selected him in the fourth round (133rd overall) of the 2025 draft. Nagy said the combination of injuries and elimination from the postseason could be beneficial to younger players like Royals.<\/p>\n

\n

<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KANSAS CITY, Mo. \u2013 Like a certificate of deposit, Jalen Royals has sat mostly idle while slowly accruing interest during the first 14 games of his rookie season<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40045,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kansas-city-chiefs"],"yoast_head":"\nRookie Wideout Ready to Fill Void for Chiefs - Breaking News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=40044\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rookie Wideout Ready to Fill Void for Chiefs - Breaking News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"KANSAS CITY, Mo. \u2013 Like a certificate of deposit, Jalen Royals has sat mostly idle while slowly accruing interest during the first 14 games of his rookie season\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=40044\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Breaking News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-19T11:52:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/kansas-city-bau-79.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MrKen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MrKen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=40044\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=40044\",\"name\":\"Rookie Wideout Ready to Fill Void for Chiefs - 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