Chiefs: Rookie reveals how his injury impacted his 2022 season
The Kansas City Chiefs have a rookie that was impacted by a pretty significant injury in his 2022 season, and he revealed how it impacted him. The Chiefs needed a receiver coming into this 2023 season after the departure of JuJu Smith-Schuster to New England left them struggling to find a new wide receiver one. […]
The Kansas City Chiefs have a rookie that was impacted by a pretty significant injury in his 2022 season, and he revealed how it impacted him.
The Chiefs needed a receiver coming into this 2023 season after the departure of JuJu Smith-Schuster to New England left them struggling to find a new wide receiver one. They were in on the Odell Beckham Jr. sweepstakes, but it didn't work out. They were in on theDeAndre Hopkins sweepstakes, but it didn't work out. All of that left them waiting to see who would fall to them at pick No. 31. Unfortunately for them, they didn't have a receiver they liked fall to 31.
So, they took the next best thing. Rashee Rice, the wide receiver out of SMU, is a guy that could be in the same tier as those guys drafted in the first round. But, he went later because of an injury, and he didn't have the same appeal of doing it at a big time school like those other guys. Instead, he put up huge numbers at SMU, who plays in the AAC.
Nonetheless, Rice is good, and has a very high ceiling, but, he has some things he needs to work on. When you turn on the tape, it's hard to see anything he does wrong because all he does is catch balls throw his way. But then you start to realize almost every catch is contested. There is a reason behind that – he wasn't great at creating space last year, so he had to catch the ball under pressure.
Creating space and getting open is one thing he definitely needs to work on, and the Chiefs will make sure he gets that down pat. Then again, one theory floated out there is that a lot of that was hindered by his foot injury. Rice revealed that the injury did affect him a bit in 2022.
"It didn't, I mean, it impacted me in a way that I could have been a lot more explosive but, just me being immensely tough and, you know, know that I had a lot of people, you know, behind me and I mean, it kind of just keep pushing through, had a great season," Rice said on Saturday after rookie minicamp practice.
Somehow, even with the injury, Rice was still able to show out when it came to the box score. In 2022 at SMU, he finished with 1,355 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns, all in 12 games. So, something was still working.
Rice was still able to show his insane catch radius, and the ability to do a little something after catching the ball. His YAC, or yards after catch, ability was great, and he prides himself on that.
"I take a lot of pride in that just because some other people can't do it," Rice said. "It's like smaller receivers can, big, some big receivers can't. And I feel like just kind of being a bigger body and being able to do that has athleticism and just take a lot of pride in that."
Right now in minicamp, he is working on other things though. One of the most important things a rookie needs to do when he touches down in rookie minicamp, is learn the plays.
"Really just learning the playbook," Rice said. "Like I said, not letting it overwhelm you because for me in college it was a lot of, you know, not huddling and getting signals, but here I'm huddling up running to the line of scrimmage and basically having not overthought but be ready to, you know, know my assignment and be able to adjust the defense.
"…There's a lot of similarities. Yes, just different wording. I'll call, you know, certain words like a hitch. It's a different call over here. So, you know, when I, when I tell coach, you know, it's a hitch route, he would be like, you got to learn that terminology because that's not what we call it. So I'm just really learning how to understand and be able to communicate with my coach."
The Chiefs offense can be a difficult one to learn too. But, at the same time, it will put Rice in the best positions to help the team when he does get it down. I think it will be very similar to what we saw with wide receivers Skyy Moore and Kadarius Toney last season. We saw both of those guys not have huge impacts on the game early on, and then both scored touchdowns in the Super Bowl.
The Chiefs really liked Rice, and they don't get picks wrong too often, especially second round picks. I think it will be more than interesting to see how he pans out as a Chiefs receiver and what his role will be.
