Rashee Rice Is Showing Legit Promise Early in His Rookie Season With the KC Chiefs
The Kansas City Chiefs' wide receiver situation was a huge question mark coming into the season. There were a lot of unknowns when looking at the room on paper. They probably needed a step forward from multiple guys, but at least one. Rashee Rice looks like the first receiver who has taken a step forward and helped fans feel more comfortable in the receiver group as a whole.
Rice's step forward is more about exceeding expectations in his rookie season than a literal "step forward," since he never played in the NFL until three weeks ago. The expectations were mainly compared to how Skyy Moore produced in his rookie season the year before. Moore had 250 receiving yards during his first season, and the rookie from SMU is pacing to break that mark by Week 6. That statistical measurement alone has fans recalibrating expectations for him for the rest of the season.
By the end of the year, Rice could legitimately lead Kansas City's wideouts in all major receiving categories. He already has the most targets and receptions while being tied for the most touchdowns of anyone in the receiver room. Also, the rookie currently has the third-most receiving yards on the team. From a statistical perspective, Rice is producing at a high level, which should continue as he gets more comfortable in the offense. The ways he's been producing have been just as impressive.
The first way into Andy Reid's heart as a wide receiver is to be committed to blocking on the perimeter. In the first game of his career, Rice missed some assignments in the run game. However, those miscues have been cleaned up over the last few weeks. On Sunday against the Chicago Bears, the rookie was phenomenal blocking in the run game. The best block of the game was when he had to seal a linebacker on a counter look. He perfectly turned the linebacker to open the lane for Isiah Pacheco to run through.
Switching to his skill set as a receiver, Rice has proved that the Chiefs should get him on the field and give him the ball more. One underlying analytic that analysts like to use is yards per route run (YPRR). The statistic is pretty self-explanatory, as it shows how much a player produces in yards on a per-route basis. Rice is at 2.77 YPRR — 11th in the league for all players with a minimum of 10 targets. For perspective, the league average last year was around 1.3 YPRR. Ten targets through three games is not a tiny sample, so the rate that Rice is producing at so early in his NFL career is very encouraging.
In college, Rice excelled at settling into the soft spots of the zone defense. He has a natural knack for finding the open space and making himself available to his quarterback. That's precisely what he has done for Patrick Mahomes through three weeks. Chiefs fans saw that on the first touchdown of the season when the former Mustang settled into the open space of the end zone. Mahomes was then able to locate Rice and fire him the ball for the first score of his career.
Rice also has a natural ability to create yards after the catch. Immediately after he catches the ball, he turns upfield to get all the yards possible. He's so explosive that once he turns, he covers the ground so quickly it's almost like stealing extra yards. Watching him with the ball in his hands is partially so impressive because he makes it look so effortless. Another thing is that at his size, he's hard to tackle and isn't afraid of embracing contact to create extra yards when needed.
Rice might not have a statement or "breakout" game this week or the week after, but it's coming. At the end of the day, he's been too impressive and is too talented for the Chiefs not to recognize it. They have already pushed him into the limelight as a rookie, showing their belief in him. By the end of the season, the Chiefs should be looking at a week-in-week-out difference-maker who is seen as the lead dog of the wide receiver group.
