Fantasy football: Where to draft Kansas City Chiefs WR Rashee Rice

Analyzing Kansas City Chiefs WR Rashee Rice’s 2024 fantasy football ADP and where to target him in fantasy drafts.

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Kansas City Chiefs WR Rashee Rice was impressive in his rookie season after being taken in the 2nd round (55th overall) of the 2023 NFL Draft. Out of SMU, Rice was a main target for the Super Bowl-winning Chiefs last season. With 102 targets, he was among just 2 Chiefs to exceed 100 targets — the other being TE Travis Kelce (121). Below, we look at Rashee Rice’s 2024 fantasy football average draft position (ADP) and where you should draft him.

Rice is expected to take another big step forward. While there is more competition this season, in an ideal world, he could blossom into a top-15 fantasy option. The 2nd-year receiver is intriguing in terms of fantasy value.

Rice was involved in an offseason speeding incident on a Dallas freeway where several people were injured. League officials with the NFL said the wideout is unlikely to be suspended for any games, but it’s worth keeping in mind before you decide to add Rice to your fantasy squad.

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Rashee Rice’s ADP: 62.30

(ADP data courtesy of MyFantasyLeague.com; last updated at time of this publishing – ADPs continually change as more drafts occur)

Rice’s 62.30 ADP in redraft leagues places him in the 7th to 8th round depending on the size of the league. His ADP is the 4th-best on Kansas City. RB Isiah Pacheco (22.63) is 1st, followed by QB Patrick Mahomes (26.82) and Kelce (28.79).

Among all wide receivers, Rice’s ADP ranks him 28th at the position behind Pittsburgh’s George Pickens (59.71), Cincinnati’s Tee Higgins (59.65) and Baltimore’s Zay Flowers (55.32). Following Rice is Washington’s Terry McLaurin (65.87), Chicago’s Keenan Allen (66.03) and Houston’s Tank Dell (69.47).

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Rashee Rice’s 2023-24 stats

Games: 16

Receptions | targets: 79 | 102

Receiving yards: 938

Receiving touchdowns: 7

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Where should you draft Rice?

Rice’s fantasy value should get a boost for a variety of reasons. One is that Kelce is getting older and there are going to be more eyes on stopping the All-Pro tight end than before. That should open up the door for Rice.

Rice should also be poised to start more games with less experienced competition. Rice started 8 games last season and still saw 102 targets. He neared 1,000 receiving yards and had 7 TDs. Expect Rice to see an increased target share.

The addition of rookie WR Xavier Worthy (out of Texas) does hurt Rice a bit, but the duo along with Kelce should make up the bulk of Mahomes’ receiving weapons. Rice is one of the top options in arguably the most electric and consistent offense in the NFL. While Worthy and Kelce will take targets away from him, the 2nd-year receiver should still see 100-plus targets and reach 1,000 yards for the 1st time.

Draft Rice in the late 6th round and feel free to let him drop to the early 8th round in PPR formats as he should be more valuable in standard leagues given his ability to get into the end zone.

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Sorting through all that is the Kansas City Chiefs receiving corps

Making fantasy football sense of this deep but unsettled cast of wideouts.

One of the more remarkable aspects of the Kansas City Chiefs winning back-to-back Super Bowls is that the team hasn’t had a wide receiver reach the 1,000-yard mark since they traded Tyreek Hill to the Miami Dolphins before the 2022 season. That year, JuJu Smith-Schuster, now with the New England Patriots, led the club with 933; last year it was Rashee Rice (938). Beyond that, only current Buffalo Bills WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling has even topped 500 yards the past two years.

Kansas City’s struggles at the position haven’t been from a lack of effort as they’ve used premium picks on Rice, Skyy Moore, and Xavier Worthy, signed veteran free agents (Smith-Schuster and Marquise Brown), and traded for Kadarius Toney and Mecole Hardman. On paper, this year’s group looks the best it has since Hill was traded with a deep mix of talent around quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

What does that mean for fantasy owners? Let’s dive in.

KC’s crowded WR corps comes with more questions than answers

KC’s receiving corps, while talented, is full of question marks.

For a second consecutive year, the Kansas City Chiefs bid farewell to their leading wide receiver during the offseason, though the loss of wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster (78-933-3), who signed with the New England Patriots, is hardly on par with the team’s decision to trade WR Tyreek Hill to the Miami Dolphins before the 2022 campaign. The Hill move felt like KC was hitting the reset button on their receiving corps, whereas Smith-Schuster was more of a one-year rental to ease that transition.

That gave young receivers Skyy Moore and Kadarius Toney a chance to learn the offense, and a pair of new additions, veteran Richie James and rookie Rashee Rice, will join Marquez Valdes-Scantling in what should be the top-five wideouts for MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Let’s examine who in that group will hold value for fantasy owners as the team’s secondary outlet behind tight end Travis Kelce.