Why the best development of the Chiefs’ preseason came in Arizona — with Mahomes’ help
There was a moment Saturday in Arizona, and it came less than one quarter into the game, that might be the most promising development of this Chiefs preseason.
It’s a pass play that gained all of three yards.
It didn’t even result in a first down.
And by night’s end, it actually ranked closer to the bottom of the Chiefs’ best gains than it did the top.
But stay with me. A bit of context first: Rashee Rice got the start in the Chiefs’ 38-10 preseason win in Arizona. Excited about it, too.
And then, wouldn’t you know it, the Chiefs’ dialed up the first pass of the game his way, and he dropped it. Perfect throw. Right in his hands. Just plain dropped it.
It’s been a learning curve of a transition to the NFL for Rice, a second-round pick. Most people will talk about the playbook. He’s been asked a lot about that. A lot about the lingo he’s had to learn, too.
But perhaps the toughest thing?
“College is a lot easier to clear a play,” he said, referencing forgetting about a mistake. “In the NFL, nah, that’s your job. You’re the best at what you do. People kind of expect you to be perfect.”
So there he stood on the sideline early in the game, not certain he hadn’t blown his only chance of the night, when he got a visitor.
Patrick Mahomes.
He heard him before he saw him.
“I’m coming back to you,” Mahomes said, as Rice recalled, and then he said it once more. “I’m coming back to you.”
That puts us back at the play of consequence — which required Rice to run the most simple of routes on the tree. Immediately after a snap, Mahomes turned and fired a wide receiver screen at the line of scrimmage. This one Rice caught. A measly three yards.
So what, right?
Well, actually, game on.
Rice was the star of a night that included three quarterbacks having near-perfect outings. He caught eight passes — every target but that first one — for 96 yards, splitting his time with Mahomes, Shane Buechele and Blaine Gabbert under center. He had 85 yards in the first half alone.
And, to say it once more, it all might add up to the best development of this Chiefs preseason.
Sure, others have had better training camps. But there’s no single player you’d rather have a strong camp — or even a strong game — than Rashee Rice.
Let’s be honest: You know what you have in most of these guys before the preseason begins. Heck, before the Chiefs gather in St. Joseph. Which leaves much of the intrigue to the rookies. The Chiefs have collected some hauls in recent drafts, none more so than last season, but their track record on wide receivers neighbors the exception.
And wouldn’t it be nice if Rice were that exception?
I’ve actually long believed that the need for a wide receiver has been overblown, and tried to explain why. The Chiefs did just fine without a true No. 1 last year, and please don’t argue that JuJu Smith-Schuster should have qualified as a true No. 1.
But much of that confidence is knowing that this group isn’t made up of a bunch of slouches. They are better than most think because most prioritize the top of the depth chart rather than the meat of it, and the Chiefs have a chance to be pretty versatile.
But Rice provides something different than all else in that room. Much of his ability is after the catch rather than before it. That’s what popped on his college tape, Chiefs assistant general manager Mike Borgonzi said on the night he was drafted, and that’s what popped Saturday in Glendale.
On the very route he dropped, no less.
Rice caught a quick slant pattern from Buechele just five yards past the line of scrimmage. He shrugged off a tackle from cornerback Antonio Hamilton, and then put on tape something Cardinals safety Andre Chachere probably wishes hadn’t been recorded. With a quick jab step, Rice left Chachere in cement and turned that 5-yard pass into a 25-yard gain.
“He runs physical,” Mahomes said. “I say he has a lot of what Sammy (Watkins) had when he first got here — being able to catch the ball, run physical and still have speed. He’s going to be a great player for us. We’re going to keep trying to push him to be even better.”
Those last couple of sentences are the kinds of things you hear often this time of year, if we’re being honest.
It felt different to see it. And if Rice had just put up the numbers he did, it would be worth talking about.
But given the context?
“That’s huge for me,” Rice said.
Potentially the same for the Chiefs.