The Kansas City Chiefs, once again, went with a receiver-by-committee approach in Week 5 against the Minnesota Vikings. Rookie wideout Rashee Rice played a significant role in that rotation, adding to his already solid case for being a focal point of the team's offensive game plan.
In his first five regular-season games as a pro, Rice has hauled in 17 passes for 173 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Among all non-Travis Kelce pass catchers on the Chiefs, those numbers rank first, second and tied for first, respectively. The SMU product and second-round pick has already nearly outperformed what Skyy Moore was able to do as a rookie a season ago, and he's done it in a fraction of the time. That trend continued on Sunday.
Despite seeing the field for 17 fewer snaps than Moore, Rice recorded four receptions on five targets for 33 yards and a touchdown to the latter's two catches on two targets for 11 yards and no scores. It was another inspiring performance for Rice, and one that is catching the eyes of his coaching staff. When asked on Monday whether the first-year man is doing enough to earn increased playing time, offensive coordinator Matt Nagy gave a resoundingly positive response.
"Yeah, I absolutely think he is," Nagy said. "I think it's a growth process for him and just as we've talked about and I've talked about, this process for these wide receivers, learning these positions and learning what they're supposed to do within the route, does take time. When you're a rookie wide receiver nowadays coming from college and there's so much no-huddle... the sooner and quicker you can learn the verbiage we have in the huddle, and then the next step is taking it to the line of scrimmage and being able to run the right route, and then followed by 'what's the defense do?' And then oh, by the way, you've got to be able to make the catch, too.
"I think yesterday, you saw that one catch he had over the middle of the field where he was running a basic cross," Nagy said. "The throw was a little bit behind him, but he was able to maneuver himself and make a strong-handed catch and still get vertical. To me, that was immense growth from him where week one in preseason, we may not have seen that. He's starting to understand the different levels that you see with the linebackers and safeties, finding different holes in zones, and then also his touchdown catch, of course. Making a strong catch, he was physical, he was fast."
Rice, who was the Chiefs' highest-graded performer in Week 5 according to Pro Football Focus, has recorded at least two targets and two receptions in every game this season. In four of five games, he's garnered five or more targets from quarterback Patrick Mahomes. There's a clear level of trust between the defending NFL MVP and his newest receiver — one that didn't hasn't always been in place with young wideouts in the past. Rice is winning the team over quickly despite being new to the league, which is a positive development early on.
Nagy has been consistent in reminding the world that instead of having a go-to leading wide receiver like JuJu Smith-Schuster a year ago, this will likely be a true committee contribution at the receiver spot. Each player has his respective strengths and weaknesses, as Nagy mentioned, and everyone is still finding their footing through Week 5.
Rice, for example, averages a team-leading 4.47 yards per route run against zone coverage but is posting a measly 0.38 Y/RR versus man coverage. Both he and the Chiefs are learning what he's good at and what doesn't work as well at this stage, which is a constantly evolving process. As the rookie settles in and fine-tunes things on a weekly basis, Nagy notes that he's getting more confident in himself and the coaches are also believing in him more. Considering what he's already been able to do, that gives the team some hope for the long-term.
"What I think we're seeing right now with Rashee is somebody that's slowly gaining confidence in himself," Nagy said. "He knows that we as coaches are slowly gaining more and more confidence in him. There's immense growth ahead of him, and I think that's the exciting part that we all see."
More must-reads: