Rice survived Denver's Saturday roster cuts, but was told that he would enter the season fourth on the depth chart behind Darius Watts, ESPN.com reports.
Rice returned to practice Thursday after missing time to attend to a family matter, and stayed after to put in extra time catching passes with backup quarterbacks Bradlee Van Pelt and Matt Mauck, the Denver Post reports.
Rice, who was excused Tuesday to attend to a family matter, is expected to practice Thursday and will play in Saturday's preseason game against the Colts, the Denver Post reports.