The Chiefs came out of last weekend’s abomination of a loss against the Eagles on Monday Night Football looking to prove that they weren’t going to let the same mistakes haunt them from that fateful drop-filled night, and for the most part, they addressed those issues with bravado against the division rival Raiders yesterday afternoon. Mahomes was able to complete just under 80% of his passes on the day while tossing for 298 yards and two scores – one of which landed in the hands of a potential weapon in the making in WR Rashee Rice.
Rice ran the second-most routes of any receiver on the Chiefs besides Travis Kelce, while also pacing the team in targets with 10 on the day – easily a career-high for the SMU product. Rice repaid Patrick Mahomes and his fantasy managers for their trust in him against the Raiders with eight catches, 107 yards receiving, and a touchdown en route to his first WR1 finish of the 2023 season.
What’s more – Rice’s 24.7 PPR points rank him as the first Chiefs WR of the 2023 season to finish within the top-12 wide receivers on a week. Granted, his uptick in work did come as a result of Mecole Hardman and Kadarius Toney either starting the game out of the lineup or leaving the game during with an injury, but Rice’s performance qualifies regardless as easily the most promising performance we’ve seen from a Kansas City pass catcher not named Travis Kelce all season long. With little to no competition at all from other WRs in the Chiefs’ WR room, Rice could cement himself as a long-term piece of the Chiefs’ passing attack if he’s able to stack strong performances over these next few weeks.