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There’s no shortage of players to be excited about among the Kansas City Chiefs’ 2023 draft class. But there’s one player, in particular, that Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce is enamored by: second-round pick and wide receiver, Rashee Rice.
Speaking to his brother, Jason, on their “New Heights” podcast, Travis spoke glowingly of Rice when asked about him.
“He might be the dark horse in this wide receiver class, man. I was watching some highlights. I like what he does with the ball in his hands,” Kelce said of Rice on the May 3 episode. “He’s got a good feel for voids over the middle of the field and he’s tough as nails. I love wide receivers that are just tough dudes, guys that will stick their face in the fan, do the dirty work. He’s a guy that can definitely be counted on in the passing game and I think he’s gonna help us out in a lot of different areas on the field.”
Brett Veach Speaks on Drafting Rashee Rice
Speaking to the media after the draft, Chiefs general manager Brett Veach spoke about Rashee Rice and what he brings to Kansas City’s offense in the wake of JuJu Smith-Schuster’s departure.
“(I’m) certainly excited to add Rashee (Rice) to the mix here. He was a guy that the contested catch and the run after the catch was something that really stood out,” Veach said during his May 1 press conference. “We did lose JuJu and I think it makes sense to find a guy that can do a lot of things that he can do on the inside game and he’s almost like a running back after the catch.”
Rice, who stands at 6-foot-1 and weighs 204 pounds, is fresh 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. And he produced like that despite dealing with turf toe throughout the season.
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 fully comprehend who Rice is as a football player, let’s look at NFL Media draft analyst Lance Zierlein’s draft profile on the former SMU wideout.
“Talented but enigmatic receiver with game tape that shows a lack of consistency and impressive ball skills,” Zierlein wrote in his overview of Rice. “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 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, Ty Fryfogle, Sean Coyne, Te’Vailance Hunt, James Letcher, Zane Pope, Nikko Remigio, and Ty Scott.
Twitter Reacts to Chiefs Drafting Rashee Rice
Twitter users reacted to the defending Super Bowl champions drafting Rashee Rice in the second round.
“Rashee Rice had a pretty damn good relative athletic score,” Adam Best of Arrowhead Addict wrote. “Was the 5th rated WR in the Breakout Finder app. The Beast had him right behind Reed and right in front of 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. The chiefs receivers room got a little bit of everything,” former NFL quarterback and NBC Sports analyst Chris Simms wrote.