Travis Kelce Confident That Rashee Rice Will ‘Keep Growing’ With KC Chiefs
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes topped the 300-yard mark in Sunday's win over the New England Patriots, with one player accounting for nearly a third of that yardage. It wasn't the usual suspect, however, as rookie wide receiver Rashee Rice once again paced the team instead of tight end Travis Kelce.
Hauling in all nine of his targets and recording 91 yards and a touchdown, Rice continued what's been a heck of a recent month of play. In each of Kansas City's last four games, he's been targeted either nine or 10 times. His lowest reception and yardage totals during that stretch are seven and 64, respectively. Dating back to Week 11, Rice has 32 receptions for 334 yards and three touchdowns.
With Rice's emergence, Kelce hasn't been asked to do quite as much from a production standpoint. There's a clear one-two punch for head coach Andy Reid's group, with Mahomes trusting both players to get the job done. Speaking on this week's episode of the New Heights podcast with his brother Jason, Kelce praised his first-year teammate and hinted at this just being the tip of the iceberg for him.
"I'm proud as hell of him," Kelce said. "He's slowly been taking more and more responsibility as this year's gone on and him and Pat have been able to, up to this point, even, create a great relationship and a great common ground. In big key moments, too. I'm talking about third downs when we need it most. I think his game is going to keep growing. I think Coach Reid does a great job with young players — I know because he helped me out a lot as a young player. But he's going to keep putting Rashee in great places and great positions to have success and utilize his skill sets moving forward. It just seems like he's taking a lot more ownership definitely throughout the week and during the games. I'm excited as hell for him."
It's been a great rookie campaign for Rice, who was selected out of SMU with the 55th overall pick in this year's NFL Draft. He's produced at a terrific level for a second-round pick, especially one in a Reid offense. With his touchdown reception in Week 15, he set a franchise record for touchdown catches as a rookie with seven. Compared to his peers in the Kansas City wide receiver room, Rice soars above the rest. He currently has 41 more targets, 41 more receptions, 373 yards and five more touchdowns than the next-closest player in that group.
The advanced stats are also fans of Rice's debut season. Pro Football Focus ranks him as their 13th-best wideout in the entire league and top rookie overall. ESPN's analytics model slots him in as the fifth-best pass-catcher in football in yards after the catch. Despite still being limited in terms of his route tree and ability to win down the field, Rice remains productive in one of the more complex systems in the league. That's a testament to the things he does do well — accelerate, break tackles, react quickly, move in space — and the Chiefs' willingness to dial his overall role back a bit and simply get the ball in his hands.
If Kansas City is going to make a deep playoff run, the team will need Rice to continue playing well. While expecting nine or 10-reception performances isn't realistic for a rookie, the days of him having outings of 20-30 yards are mostly behind him. The Chiefs will be tasked with finding unique ways to get him involved once opponents adjust, sure, but the baseline is getting raised with each passing week. Kelce thinks Rice's understanding and growth are going along with it, which is good news for the offense as the season reaches its most important stage.
