Why is Rashee Rice the Chiefs, Patrick Mahomes' WR 1 through Week 3?
Why is Rashee Rice the Chiefs, Patrick Mahomes' WR 1 through Week 3?
By Jay Postrado September 23, 2024 07:16
Being two seasons in surely does not take most wide receivers atop the depth chart. Rashee Rice is probably one of the exceptions to this rule. The Kansas City Chiefs have been steamrolling through teams because of his connection with Patrick Mahomes. The fact that Travis Kelce has been declining in terms of production only made him shine more under the spotlight during their win against the Atlanta Falcons. What did he do that other weapons failed to deliver on? Let's have deep dive into his statistics.
Rashee Rice's numbers during the Chiefs' win against the Falcons
He was by far the most outstanding receiver in the game. Rice looked like a veteran despite being stacked up against Drake London, Bijan Robinson, Kyle Pitts, Xavier Worthy, and Travis Kelce among others. Rice caught 12 passes from Patrick Mahomes and each one of them was almost always a guaranteed first down. By the end of the game, he gave the Chiefs an average gain of 9.2 yards per catch and totals of 110 receiving yards.
Rice's lethality also kept increasing as the Chiefs marched down toward the end zone. He racked up a passing touchdown from 13 yards out which started their scoring barrage.
Patrick Mahomes' big endorsement for WR1
It is not often that Mahomes recognizes someone as his top receiver. With the exception of Tyreek Hill, no one has quite gotten that title in a long while. But, Rice could be very different. The Chiefs signal-caller noted how insane his weapon has been performing which merits him the official title of top receiver in their system.
“Rice is a guy who's going to make plays happen. He's done a great job of when they're putting all that attention on Travis he's making stuff happen underneath," he said. "I'm sure defenses are going to start adjusting to try to put more coverage toward him. That's when Travis will make plays, that's when Worthy will make plays, or Juju or whoever. Rice's a legit, number one receiver. You see that every single week, he's making more and more plays. I'm just super proud of what he's done already, but I think he has another level he can even unlock."
Will this be an All-Pro and Pro Bowl year for Rice?