It’s Great to See You Back, Mr. Kelce and Mr. Rice

Chiefs fans are anxiously counting down. As of Tuesday, there are only 31 days until … Travis Kelce unveils his cameo in Happy Gilmore 2. The future Hall of Famer plays a hotel manager and has at least one line, reportedly: “It’s great to see you back, Mr. Gilmore.”

Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs’ offense could say the same thing to Kelce, or to Rashee Rice.

With few exceptions, sequels generally don’t perform better than originals. In the Chiefs’ case, the original was their offense with Tyreek Hill – before they traded him to Miami prior to the 2022 season. Now, led by their director, Mahomes and producer Andy Reid, a new cast is focused on making the sequel even better.

“There’s also an aggression to how Mahomes and the passing game tested themselves in the spring,” SI insider Albert Breer wrote Monday in his NFL Takeaways column. “Last spring and summer, with Hollywood Brown and Xavier Worthy aboard, the expectation was the downfield game that wasn’t the same after trading Tyreek Hill would be revived. Injuries got in the way of that coming to life, and now new hope has sprouted that this will be the year that really comes around.”

Like deviant movie critics, some NFL observers actually have said the Chiefs could be better than the 15-2 team that Philadelphia drubbed in the Super Bowl. To get there, the obvious fix has to the left side of their offensive line. The not-so-obvious fix is restoring the explosiveness to their offense.

Breer said that if Josh Simmons, Jaylon Moore and Jawaan Taylor can solve Problem 1, and Rice can return to his pre-injury form to help solve Problem 2, “I think they actually could (and should) be better on offense than they were a year ago.”

That should help in alleviating pressure from Mahomes, who’s directed an NFL-record 17 consecutive one-score wins. Simmons and Rice, both cleared to return when training camp begins in July, should have starring roles.

“Rice finished the offseason program without much, if any, aftereffects from last year’s knee injury,” Breer said. “The Chiefs really think he’ll grow into a top-10 receiver in 2025 (though the league office could still suspend him for part of the season whenever Rice’s street racing incident from ’24 is adjudicated).

“They see an edge and physicality to his game recalling the way Steve Smith Sr. used to play, and rare burst in short areas that should make him lethal from a run-after-catch perspective again this year.”

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