With the 55th pick in the second round of 2023 NFL Draftthe Kansas City Chiefs SMU wide receiver pick Rashee Rice. While this selection surprised many observers, I was deeply interested in it throughout the draft process.
Let’s take a look at what Rice offers presidents:
Body control and positioning
You always look for the lead’s salient attribute when evaluating draft prospects. With Rice, this is the control of his own body.
You see this is a problem with me and a “breakup”. Obviously Rice is not the designed reading in the play, this is more towards digging. The safety doesn’t fly over the top, so the QB takes the Go, but not the traditional class
Oh, and silly hunting too. The control of Rice’s body is special pic.twitter.com/UReorVHP78
– Nate Christensen (@natech32) April 30, 2023
The Mustangs built a large portion of their offense on Rice’s contested catch ability; Some of his catches were legitimately private.
On this rep, Rice isn’t the determined read—but when the forward safety doesn’t cover Rice vertically, the quarterback decides to hit Rice just below the seam. Rice doesn’t even sprint at full speed, but he still gets a good position on the corner-back’s outside shoulder before his maniacal header drop.
Again, I’ll point out why I hate the term “separation” because it’s ambiguous, but Rice’s “issues” chapter is as much of an “oh” mistake as Rice’s.
Like, SMU would get him off the hash and design the disputed catch for him. How is this his fault pic.twitter.com/DEB1UfdCcj
– Nate Christensen (@natech32) April 30, 2023
Rice’s ability to beat defenders (and get the football) stands out. He’s a well-coordinated athlete who makes good use of his size and strength – and on a ball like this 50-50, his ball tracking and body control are special.
While he has some problems, Rice has insanely strong hands. He can make shots off his frame And through contact.
Learn about coverage and leverage
Rice also reads zonal coverage and leverages it well – and understands how to find openings that can beat zonal coverage.
I expected Rice’s rookie role to be a backup to MVS (Watson’s role, which is like 500 shots), but there could be a chance he could be in the slot for KC
Runs a good choice course, outward pretense, winch recognition. The rice seemed tough tho pic.twitter.com/uXgbst0osL
– Nate Christensen (@natech32) April 30, 2023
On this play, Rice plays an option run out of the hole. Once he recognizes the inside leveraged linebacker, Rice storms into the apartment. While this is a straightforward actor, this kind of recognition is constantly shown in the film.
Besides Rashee’s body control, I’d argue his best attribute as a WR is how perceptive he is of area coverage and leverage. Rice has good awareness of location and coverage, which helps him be friendly with the QB and find holes on offense pic.twitter.com/Voj07IiLnN
– Nate Christensen (@natech32) April 30, 2023
This play is a better representation of Rice’s finding windows. He’s going slanted against press coverage – but Maryland is playing Cover 2. Most casual champions will run their slant – which will likely result in an interception by the quarterback. But Rice caught coverage and blocked his path, giving the quarterback a window to hit in coverage.
In the movie, Rice’s football IQ stands out.
yards after the catch
I feel like the big divider (look what I did there) with Rashee versus most possession/disputed WRs (think JJAW, Butler, etc) is how explosive Rashee is with the ball in his hands
Nothing special about the play but the acceleration and stride in the open field are great. pic.twitter.com/tOalm6HjjC
– Nate Christensen (@natech32) May 1, 2023
The most important difference between Rice and the other wide ball is how dynamic he is with the ball in his hands. On the open court, he is an incredibly explosive athlete and can use his speed to get away from defenders. Although it does not have excellent fifth gear speed, it can quickly cover a lot of ground when it reaches full speed.
I think what I like the most is the spatial awareness more than anything else, but it’s also creative with the ball. It is very different from most WRs in its prototype, being able to win after capture at different speeds/pace pic.twitter.com/2y2dNu643t
– Nate Christensen (@natech32) May 1, 2023
The thing that likely attracted KC to Rashi was his scramble drill work. Not a traditional scramble but the sprinter after the offside, runs to the sideline, catches up with the QB, gets inside the shoulder and tackles the ball. Good move to create YAC pic.twitter.com/GqyMsaj005
– Nate Christensen (@natech32) April 30, 2023
Rice is also creative with the ball in his hands. Even as a somewhat crude prospect, he has good spatial awareness – and knows how to break through obstacles. He doesn’t just outsmart or beat the junior defenders. Instead, he creates additional arenas with different start-stop moves and drop-steps to overcome the cliff-sinking phenomena.
The SMU offense hasn’t allowed Rice to maximize his post-catch ability – but at the next level, he has the feel (and athleticism profile) to serve as a yardage post-catch Monster.
Beating press coverage off a snap
For Rashi to reach his full potential he will need to develop more journalistic beats (by far his biggest weakness/fear) but there are still flashes in a movie that happen. External release setup Have the CB open the hips just enough to attack inside the shoulder pic.twitter.com/pBej8nd48o
– Nate Christensen (@natech32) April 30, 2023
Rice’s biggest concern in cinema is how well he pulls off. There is some truth in saying he’s not an elite break – but it seems to have nothing to do with his size or athletic profile. He simply struggled to get over the press coverage.
But this is not all his fault. Mustang wanted him to run a limited path tree against man coverage. When SMU saw press coverage, the team would always have Rice go a way behind a shoulder to come up and get the ball.
While this was successful, it limited how Rice learned to weather press coverage. Instead of trying to stack — or climb on — your back on the line of scrimmage, Rice had to win with body posture and physique.
So Rice needs to work hard on his release. His college filmography contains flashes where he beat the press – but in the NFL, that would be a major factor in determining his success.
scramble pits
It’s this actor who makes me feel more optimistic about Rice’s fit in KC but also intrigues me because he plays the slot
Recognizing the outer zone sway, the intersection on the inside, and the LB walls are potholes but good work on scrambling to open them up pic.twitter.com/7ywKoU4dwi
– Nate Christensen (@natech32) April 30, 2023
When you play quarterback Patrick Mahomes, you have to be good at stepping drills—and in college, Rice showed he could do just that.
It’s another area where Rice’s sense of space helps. When the play breaks down, he can find open spaces in the coverages while working to assist the quarterback. Not every wide receiver can do it — but on the Kansas City offense, it’s a necessary skill.
bottom line
In this draft, Rice was at the top of the third-round wide receiver rankings—and was ranked eighth at wide. At pick #55, the only available wide receiver I ranked ahead of was him Wake Forest Wide receiver AT Perry who went in the sixth round.
Rice has a lot of things that he needs to improve. His struggles against press coverage will prevent him from immediately getting onto the field — and running him into the road can also get him to work. So Rice’s junior influence may not be so great.
Still… I like this selection. In my view, the wide receivers of this class tend to be classified as intermediate starters. After the first round, I don’t see many stars; Most of them are players at substitution level. Rice is the only person who can bypass this projection.
Since they have head coach Andy Reid (and Mahomes), the Chiefs have a built-in margin of error in their offense. So I’m totally satisfied with General Manager Brett Veitch taking that swing at a wide receiver. While I don’t feel great about Rice’s immediate value, betting on his future rally seems like a smart bet.