How Chiefs’ Rashee Rice is expanding his game — and also growing with Patrick Mahomes
Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy said this play opened up because of “feel.”
It was early in the second half in the opener against the Baltimore Ravens, and quarterback Patrick Mahomes wanted to throw to tight end Travis Kelce before the Ravens double-covered him.
So, what happened next?
Mahomes quickly reset his feet and found receiver Rashee Rice behind Kelce. That catch and run went for 33 yards — the longest of Rice’s day.
“Just two playmakers making plays,” Nagy said.
And another example of the growth of the second-year pro Rice, who appears poised for a huge season while increasingly seeing the game like his quarterback does.
With this example, Nagy said, Rice altered his original route; the receiver saw zone coverage, then worked himself to free space based on the defenders’ post-snap movements.
The adjustment here is similar to the type of mind-meld Mahomes has developed with Kelce after playing with him for so many years. Oftentimes, those two go off-script to create nearly unguardable routes, all while reacting to what the defense does in real-time.
Nagy was reminded on this play of the growth Rice already began to display last season. There was a route early in the year where Mahomes and Rice were not on the same page, resulting in a busted play.
A few weeks later? The Chiefs went to a similar setup, with Mahomes finding Rice that time for a big gain.
“I feel like you could almost go back to that one play for Rashee’s career with Pat from last year, and say that was the start,” Nagy said. “Now it’s happening naturally on all plays. And I think you felt that the first game.”
Rice was KC’s most effective weapon against Baltimore, catching seven passes for 103 yards.
And Mahomes believes it’s just the start of what Rice can do.
“I think as the season goes on, you’re going to see the full arsenal of routes that he can run. He can run deep routes. He can run intermediate routes. He can run those medium routes. I mean, he can do it all,” Mahomes said. “And so just having all those other weapons around him as well, it takes off that focus on him that you saw at some points last year.”
While speaking in front of his locker Thursday, Rice also said he was eager to go “in the bag a little more” with varied pass-catching assignments. Most of his production against the Ravens was on slants or crossers over the middle.
“I ran a lot of the same routes,” Rice said. “So I know when they watch film, they’re expecting me to run those same routes the next game.”
Even if that remains the focal part of Rice’s game, it likely will remain difficult to stop.
Part of that is because of scheme, as Nagy and coach Andy Reid helped Rice to advantageous matchups in Week 1. On one Rice catch, for example, KC spread the field in an empty formation with an unexpected two-running-back, one-tight-end setup — a personnel grouping the Chiefs played just one snap in all of 2023. That Rice reception went for 19 yards.
KC’s coaches have helped him in other ways, too. They’ve used motion to ensure Rice gets free releases off the line of scrimmage, then also often paired his routes with speedster Xavier Worthy to create difficult high-low reads for opposing defenders.
“With me taking the top off, that opens up everything underneath for him and Trav,” Worthy said of Rice. “So he took advantage of every opportunity he got.”
Reid also has seen general strides in Rice’s game from his rookie year. Not only does the receiver seem more comfortable, but he also has shown better hands and improved his ability to get upfield quickly.
It all could portend bigger things in 2024, even after Rice emerged late last season to put up 938 receiving yards during his rookie campaign.
“He’s really developing his whole game, in all areas,” Reid said. “And he’ll keep growing, but it’s way smaller a margin than he had to grow from the beginning of last year.”
