Getty Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice is taking heat for a moment caught on video vs. the Las Vegas Raiders.
Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice is taking some heat for a viral moment that was first shared by NFL on CBS.
Business starting to pick up in KC
In the video, Rice and Las Vegas Raiders cornerback Jack Jones get into it a bit on the field and the Chiefs rookie rips the defender’s mouthpiece off of his helmet. Later, he picks up the mouthpiece off the ground and throws it off camera.
Although NFL on CBS didn’t appear to notice Rice’s actions involving Jones’ mouthpiece, various social media accounts did. News aggregator Dov Kleiman labeled the youngster “classless” on December 26 while MLFootball called the move “DISGUSTING,” adding: “Show some class.”
Both posts had over 100 likes within an hour of hitting X.
Chiefs Reporter Criticizes Coaches for WR Snap Counts of Marquez Valdes-Scantling & Rashee Rice vs. Raiders
After the snap counts were reported on Tuesday, December 26, A-to-Z Sports media member Charles Goldman wrote an article criticizing the Kansas City coaching staff for the way they deployed the WR corps in Week 16.
“Chiefs’ wide receiver trends are going in the wrong direction,” Goldman headlined.
Noting: “With injuries to Skyy Moore and Kadarius Toney, the Chiefs were thin in the wide receiver room heading into Week 16. They had roughly 48 snaps to account for given the absence of those two players.”
“The coaching staff had an opportunity to expand the roles of both Richie James and Justyn Ross against the Raiders,” he continued. “James played just two offensive snaps the week prior, but he only saw 23 snaps in Week 16. Ross only managed 10 snaps on offense in his return from suspension.”
The major critique not only fell with the wideouts who didn’t play but the one who did — veteran Marquez Valdes-Scantling.
“After seeing career-low snap totals in Kansas City over the two weeks prior, the Chiefs gave Valdes-Scantling 80% of the offensive snaps in Week 16,” Goldman stated. “That was his second-highest total of the season. He managed one target and no catches, playing the highest total of snaps of any Chiefs wide receiver on Christmas Day.”
The reporter admitted that Ross and James might not be “the answer” either, but MVS definitely isn’t because he “hasn’t been getting open consistently” and “hasn’t caught the ball” when he has. Rice’s snap share was a bit of an issue too, according to Goldman.
“Even though he saw a career-high in targets, he only played 75% of the offensive snaps, when he’s played now fewer than 85% in each of the past two weeks,” he argued.
Chiefs WRs Mecole Hardman & Kadarius Toney Could Return in Week 17 vs. Bengals
Although the Chiefs were short at wide receiver against the Raiders, they could be getting back some reinforcements in Week 17 versus the Cincinnati Bengals.
Mecole Hardman’s 21-day window was opened on December 21. He wasn’t ready to return on Christmas Day but that could change next weekend.
The Chiefs were also without Toney for the recent loss and after a few more days of rest, he could be back on the field too. Now, that’s unlikely to completely solve the WR woes considering Hardman and Toney have contributed to them over the past couple of years, but it should alter the snap count at the very least.
If Hardman and Toney do return against Cincy, Valdes-Scantling probably won’t play as much. Having said that, James and Ross might not get a boost in usage either.
Either way, until offensive coordinator Matt Nagy starts to get some production out of this group of wide receivers, his ability to coach them will be called into question.