A month in, and that plan has seen a wrecking ball fly through it.

Brown suffered a preseason shoulder injury and, despite early optimism that he’d be back soon, underwent SC joint surgery that is expected to knock him out for months, with a potential playoff return being a likely best-case scenario, per NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport. Still, Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs plowed forward, starting off undefeated despite some passing struggles.

But then Week 2 delivered another bummer, with Isiah Pacheco, the RB1 and the offense’s energizer bunny, going down, landing on IR. And on Sunday, the hits kept coming: Rice was carted off after Mahomes collided with the WR’s knee while attempting to make a tackle following an interception. Rapoport reported afterward that it’s feared Rice suffered a torn ACL.

The double-whammy took out the Chiefs’ most productive player, leaving a massive void on the roster as they attempt to three-peat. Even without catching a single pass in Week 4, Rice still leads all Kansas City players with 288 receiving yards (130 more than Kelce). With Rice and Brown down, K.C.’s receiver corps is led by Worthy, a rookie with speed still finding his way, Justin Watson, a declining JuJu Smith-Schuster, disappointing former second-round pick Skyy Moore and retread Mecole Hardman. A 34-year-old Kelce remains to draw attention, and fellow tight end Noah Gray has proved useful, but this pass-catching group does not have a lot of upside or proven reliability.

I’m not here to suggest the season will be sunk without Rice. It never is with the best player in the game still sporting a red No. 15. But if the Chiefs want a chance to lift a third-straight Lombardi, the offense needs help.

With the Nov. 5 trade deadline just over a month away, let’s look at a few fits, ranging from splash plays to veteran depth additions.

One caveat: We won’t get into the salary-cap machinations for each player’s situation. The Chiefs currently have $4.93 million in cap space, per Over The Cap. It would take some maneuvering from Veach to work out details, but we know teams can manipulate the cap if they genuinely desire to add a player. Let’s not let accounting get in the way of a good time, people!