Tennessee Titans 2021 third-round pick and linebacker Monty Rice appears to be very motivated and isn’t messing around going into his third season.
Rice is heading into an important year for himself. There figures to be at least one starting job at inside linebacker up for grabs in Nashville, and while Rice is first in line to secure one, the jury is still out on him overall.
That’s because Rice has only played in 23 out of a possible 34 games (and started just 10 of those) over two seasons thanks to an Achilles injury he suffered in his rookie campaign.
As we wait to see how this all plays out at linebacker, Rice has been pretty fiery this offseason, as he appears less than thrilled with any kind of doubt surrounding him going into 2023.
The first example of this was back in late January, when Rice caught wind of a conversation on Twitter about his coverage skills that included quite a tame criticism, to which Rice offered a fiery response for.
Truth be told, criticisms of his coverage skills are valid. After all, the Georgia product allowed completions on nearly 80 percent of the passes thrown his way in 2022, giving up 198 yards and one score.
Rice brought more fire this past Saturday, showing he’s plenty motivated going into his third season.
While Rice might not like it, the truth of the matter is we need to see more of him before he can be proclaimed any semblance of a long-term solution at the position for Tennessee. He’ll have ample opportunity to show his stuff next season.
All that said, I love this fire from Rice. He’s clearly a man on a mission in 2023 and I hope he delivers.
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