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New Chiefs Draft Pick Has Mic-Drop Moment to Start KC Tenure

Getty SMU wide receiver Rashee Rice.

The Kansas City Chiefs conducted a trade on Day 2 of the 2023 NFL Draft, sending picks 63, 122, and 149 to the Detroit Lions in exchange for picks 55 and 194 according to ESPN’s Field Yates on April 28. With the 55th overall pick, the Chiefs selected SMU wide receiver, Rashee Rice.

Speaking to the media after being selected by the Chiefs, Rice made it known what he plans to do with the defending Super Bowl champions when asked what he wants to tell Chiefs fans.

“We’re going to win another Super Bowl. There’s no doubt about it,” Rice said via Nate Taylor of The Athletic.


Twitter Reacts to Chiefs Drafting Rashee Rice

Twitter users weighed in on the Chiefs drafting Rashee Rice in the second round.

“Rashee Rice has some things to clean up based on most scouting reports, but after that highlight package, there’s little doubt Terez [Paylor] would’ve had Rice on the All-Juice Team,” Sam McDowell of the Kansas City Star wrote.

“Rashee Rice had a pretty damn good relative athletic score. Was the 5th rated WR in the Breakout Finder app,” Adam Best Arrowhead Addict wrote. “The Beast had him right behind Reed and right in front of [Jonathan] Mingo. PFF’s 9th WR Overall. Know lots of Chiefs Kingdom is down on him, but there are reasons to be optimistic.”

The @Chiefs were missing a bigger physical WR type. Rashee Rice is a good route runner. Has great hands. And after the catch he bounces off a lot of would be tacklers,” former NFL quarterback and NBC Sports analyst Chris Simms wrote. “The chiefs receivers room got a little bit of everything.”

“Rashee Rice is a great athlete. He was completely miscast as a jump ball wide receiver at SMU and still did well at it,” Connor Christopherson of Arrowhead Report wrote. “The catch? I really don’t think that works in the NFL. When Rice played a good team, Cincinnati, he had three drops and a fumble. Idk how he translates.”


What to Know About Rashee Rice

Rashee Rice, who stands at 6-foot-1 and weighs 204 pounds, is coming off of a breakout senior season at SMU in which he registered 96 catches for 1,355 yards and 10 touchdowns according to Sports Reference.

At the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine, Rice ran a 4.51 in the 40-yard dash, had a 1.49 10-yard split, jumped 41 inches in the vertical jump, and 10-foot-8 in the broad jump per NFL.com.

To understand who Rashee Rice is as a football player, let’s take a look at NFL Media draft analyst Lance Zierlein’s overview of Rice from his draft profile on the SMU wideout:

“Talented but enigmatic receiver with game tape that shows a lack of consistency and impressive ball skills. Rice has enough top-end speed to attack vertically but has a tendency for nonchalant running on intermediate routes and zone-beaters underneath. In one game you might see terrific ball-tracking and jump-ball victories followed by frustrating drops and a lack of physicality in fighting back on contested catches. The route inefficiencies can be cleaned up, but Rice must play with better consistency and urgency to find long-term NFL reps.”
Rice was teammates with Chiefs quarterback Shane Buechele at SMU.
Rice now joins a receiver room in Kansas City that consists of Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Kadarius Toney, Skyy Moore, Justin Watson, Richie James, Justyn Ross, John Ross, Ihmir Smith-Marsette, Cornell Powell, Jerrion Ealy, and Ty Fryfogle.
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