The Kansas City Chiefs have been patiently waiting for a wide receiver to emerge and become the go-to option alongside Travis Kelce. Rashee Rice is trending toward becoming that weapon for Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs’ offense.
When speaking to the media on Wednesday, Mahomes expressed his enthusiasm for the former SMU wideout.
“He [Rashee Rice] has great feel, I think that’s the biggest thing,” Mahomes said. “Obviously, you see how explosive he is and you see the physical talent, but he has a good understanding of when he’s open and how to stay open. He’s starting to recognize coverages more and more, coverages are a little more complex than they were in college, but you can tell as he’s starting to learn more and getting himself open, I think we’ll continue to work with that, and he’ll continue to find ways to get open whenever the necessary route is not going to. He did a great job of that on the touchdown.”
Rice caught his third touchdown of the season against the Chargers in week seven. Mahomes broke down the play and described what he saw on the play.
“[Rashee Rice] was the primary originally, but we had another option if they played a two-high shell, which was Kadarius Toney,” Mahomes continued. “They did a good job covering that, and I kind of reset it back and was just looking for a guy to have an outlet to throw a check down to and just saw [Rice] pull up in that window perfectly. He definitely wasn’t supposed to be open, but he did a good job of recognizing the coverage and knowing where to be at, at the right time.”
Mahomes is confident in Rice and overall is starting to gain significant trust in the 23-year-old receiver.
“He’s a good football player at the end of the day,” Mahomes said. “He wants to go out there and win, he wants to compete. He’s Texas tough, man. Those Texas guys are tough out there on the football field.”
Rice has seen his snap percentages and targets increase throughout the season. In week seven, Rice ran a season-high 30 routes against the Chargers, while seeing the second most targets on the team behind Kelce.
The SMU product’s role will inevitably increase if he continues this consistent output each and every week.