Chiefs’ Rashee Rice loses lunch during 1st practice. Will conditioning be a concern?
Kansas City Chiefs rookie receiver Rashee Rice stepped to the microphone after Wednesday’s first training camp practice while intentionally huffing and puffing, putting his hands on his hips like he couldn’t catch his breath.
A second later, he quickly stopped and straightened himself.
“I’m just kidding,” Rice said with a smile.
Yes, the second-round pick already knew the questions that were coming next.
Rice, entering camp as one of the team’s candidates for a starting spot at receiver, had a rough day during the Chiefs’ first training camp practice Wednesday on Missouri Western’s campus.
He’d seemed eager to get things started a couple hours earlier — “First day, baby!” he said while walking down the hill before practice — but Rice battled dehydration throughout the 90-minute workout. He pulled himself off the field, fatigued, after his first snap of 7-on-7s; then, during a later session, he stepped off the line of scrimmage before throwing up in front of teammates three times.
The weather in St. Joseph will only get more demanding. The temperature for Wednesday’s practice was a relatively mild 82 degrees, but the humidity pushed the heat index into the high 80s. And higher temperatures are coming.
Afterward, Rice said the opening workout went “as expected,” even with the interruptions and vomit.
“They always tell us to come be in shape. Our wide receivers, this is like a track team, as far as our wide receiver group,” Rice said. “So we come knowing that we’ve got to be expected to run until the game is over, until practice is over.”
Given how things have played out, there likely has to be at least some underlying concern from the Chiefs.
Rice often looked winded during team activities over the summer at the Chiefs’ facility. That even led coach Andy Reid to comment on Rice’s conditioning after the last day of rookie minicamp.
“He’s got to make sure he gets his running in,” Reid said May 8. “That position, we run them like crazy. So, he’s got to get that part of him taken care of.”
When asked Wednesday whether he felt physically prepared for the training camp grind, Rice said, “Yeah, 100%.”
“Honestly, out here, it’s just me trying to hydrate as much as I can,” he said, “just because I knew I was gonna sweat a lot, doing all the running I was doing today.”
Rice said his preparation for camp included losing weight. He said he weighed between 212 and 215 pounds for organized team activities before dropping to his current 200.
The goal, Rice said, was to be “lighter on my feet” for upcoming drills.
He worked with a teammate to get to his current condition. Rice said that many mornings this summer, he joined up with Chiefs backup quarterback Shane Buechele in Dallas or Arlington, Texas — the pair would run two-minute-drill-type routes.
Rice, who played at SMU with Buechele from 2019-20, said the quick-pace summer regimen was specifically done “so I could be in shape and prepare for this.”
It won’t be the last time Rice says he’ll lean on Buechele. In training camp, Rice plans to meet in the quarterback’s dorm room each evening to go over plays for the next day.
Another focus for Rice — especially after the opening practice — will be keeping himself available on-field. The Chiefs only had about five receivers going through drills Wednesday, which meant more reps for everyone on a muggy morning.
Rice said he hadn’t thrown up on a football field since a fall camp workout in college.
Then again, those run-throughs always took place at an indoor practice facility — a much different experience than what’s ahead in steamy St. Joseph.
“I told (Chiefs coaches) like, ‘To be honest with y’all, I don’t mind puking,’” Rice said. “That just means I’m working as hard as I can so that I won’t be puking no more and be ready for the games.”
This story was originally published July 19, 2023 at 1:22 PM.
