You know who else struggled with drops early in his NFL career?

The Chiefs all-time reception leader - Tony Gonzalez.

This place never ceases to amaze me. I knew people were pulling hamstrings to get to their phone or computer to bitch about it as soon as it happened.

Yeah it's crazy that people are discussing how a player played in a game in a thread dedicated to the player on a forum about the team. I can't ****ing believe it!

It worries me a bit that a lot of his drops seem to be focus issues. The mental drops seem harder to clean up than the physical ones. but so much of him screams Dwayne bowe and I’d gladly take some drops if it comes with bowe production.

Drops can be fixed. It's very encouraging to see Rice get so wide open though. That you can't teach. The kid has exceptional route running ability and it isn't being talked about enough. And he is really good at finding openings in the middle of the field where Mahomes excelled last season and which he has to do going forward in his career.
It's almost as if Bert and his staff studied Rice's game at length and saw this particular strength of his that is just what was needed in this new surgical style offense.

I don’t necessarily think it’s a coincidence that this happened in the most meaningless of three meaningless games. We’ll see how focused he is when it matters.

#4 has not been a kind number to brainwaves. Except Vinatieri...Carr, Prescott, Farvre

I
Look at this dumbass

LMAO Got his first touchdown a bit quicker than Moore did.

Go Rice!!!

Currently tied for the league lead in TD receptions

fact check: true

LMAO

He’s gonna be a good one.

Might be the first decent WR pick we've made since Hill. It's early but he's shown more through the preseason and game 1 than Moore has. Hopefully they start to trust him more and more as the season progresses and he can solidify a starting role sooner than later.

I think it's too much to ask for both him and Ross to start this year, but if Rice and Ross can show enough to be your #1/2 by next year then that will be one positive to take away from any early season struggles we deal with from this WR group.

Dude looked decent in his first NFL game.

Its just weird how our coaching staff is playing these guys in a way were they are still determining the pecking order.

Because they are.

But hey, that means your boy still has a chance!

My boy didn't drop any of his target last night

I wouldn't be surprised at all to see his snap count increase as the Chiefs continue to figure out who's a dawg and who isn't.

Yeah he's gonna get more snaps. Jags will probably be a harder nut to crack but if he plays the same way they're gonna have to find more ways to get him involved

I honestly think we should start Rice and Ross, fresh legs and two different type of receivers.

Hell Toney and Rice might be the combo in 2xwr sets and bring Ross in for 3xWR

Packages for MVS/Etc

As far as KC receivers right now, Rice is the prettiest turd in the toilet.

The history of MEH and Andy with rookie WR says otherwise...

But I hope you are right.

So the day after Rice clearly outplays Skyy Moore in his first NFL contest (and is clearly more heavily involved in the gameplan), we're STILL gonna keep ****ing the "Andy Reid and rookie WRs" chicken, eh?

Reid will play rookie WRs if they aren't bad. Moore was bad. He's playing Rice and he'll continue to play Rice. Because Rice isn't bad.

How many games do we need to see Moore simply not show anything before we back up from "Moore struggled because Reid won't play rookie WRs..." thing?

Half this board would have benched Rice prior the last night for preseason drops.

Moore might not even be a JAG, he might just be a PS player

This board thought Kate Beckinsale was the hottest actress in the world.

Sometimes the consensus 'round these parts is quite dumb.

Where is the disconnect between all the high praise about "growth in the system", and the fact he barely played in the preseason as if the coaches didn't need to see any more to be confident in his gameday ability?

With the way he was talked up as a chain mover, one could've easily expected him to lead the team in catches... its perplexing

The view from my chair? AAAA player doing AAAA player things against lower level competition.

I don't doubt Moore can beat up on MAC caliber competition or on guys who are going at 90% in practice if he's going at 100%.

But he's a limited guy. Athletically and physically. And when the competition level gets turned up, as does the intensity, those limitations will continue to prevent him from being a factor unless/until he develops a level of precision that he just has never shown.

I'll say what I said when I was called out for my difference in attitude w/r/t 'small college player Moore vs. small college player Rice' - I think Rice is simply a different level of prospect. He's a guy who can develop into a player who can still perform against NFL caliber competition playing at the highest levels of intensity.

Moore is, to again steal a baseball term, a 'mistake hitter' - a guy who can beat on lesser pitching and/or guys who are 'getting some work in'. But not a guy that's gonna turn on a big league fastball in October. Oh sure, Matt Adams brained Clayton Kershaw in a playoff game once - and sometimes Moore will win his reps. But I just don't see him ever being a consistent performer in those sorts of matchups. I just don't see the skill-set.

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I just hate to think our coaches were that bamboozled by him

Maybe all the high praise was just a gambit to boost his confidence, and create some kind of self fulfilling prophecy... hell if I know

Have you seen Sofia Vergara?

I'm pretty sure I couldn't even speak in her presence.

I don't think they were bamboozled. I don't think they even loved the pick.

Again - they traded back and took Moore (Veach even said they had Cook higher than him but gamed the board thinking Cook would slide). They traded up for Rice. And they did that despite there being more similarly situated WR talent on the board when they moved up for Rice then there was when they moved down and took Moore.

The only folks bamboozled by Moore were his fanbois that, honest to god, convinced themselves we got "The best WR in the draft..." In a draft that saw two guys go over 1,000 yards as rookies and a 3rd that would've if he weren't in an offense from the 50s (Drake London).

The Moore hype is a CP creation more than a Chiefs creation, IMO. And it was readily apparent to anyone that would actually watch what they did with him last year and weren't just hell-bent on making excuses for him.

Anything coming from the Chiefs is just coach-speak stuff. It really doesn't mean much. In fact, what you DON'T hear from the Chiefs often means more than what you do. The relative quiet surrounding Mahomes his rookie year (when we later learned he was out there embarrassing his teammates in practice) speaks volumes in that regard.

you know Rice isn't toney, right

One thing about Rice is he seems to know how to play football. Adjust his route. Adjust to the ball. Sees what he defense is doing and ad libs.

Has anyone truly seen Sofia Vergara, though? I'm pretty sure she had a unibrow during that competition.

https://66.media.tumblr.com/7ad3bc23...ej0ko1_500.gif

So what? I’d white out that unibrow… if ya know what I mean!

https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-rookies...er-week-2-2023

Rice is the #9 highest rated rookie per pff

Hopefully he has an opportunity to break out in the coming weeks.

Rice should have himself a great game this weekend. Probably see him inserted into the regular offense quite a bit, especially if and when the game gets out of hand for the Bears.

Feed this man, Andy!

That’s something I just mentioned in another thread. I’ve really been impressed with really subtle route adjustments he makes. Those subtle hesitations or cutting his route off. He really seems to understand space. Now just focus on consistently catching the ball.

Not sure if real Staylor anymore..

With James out and Toney hobbled at best right now, it seems like it is time to really see what Rice and Ross can provide.

I want to see what Rice can do but in my heart I know Big Red aint about that life.

Yep, this is the way to replace the JJSS stuff. We don't need reps for everyone, let's get as many to this kid as possible as quickly as is reasonable.

You have to be gay to even notice Sofia Vergara's eyebrows.

Seriously.

My eyes would be locked on the T and A.

Won't have a choice this week. Gotta give Rice heavy snaps of Toney and James are out. This could be a breakout game that forces Reid to give him a permanent spot in the lineup.

....and I'd be perfectly fine with that. Hell, let Ross show what he can do this week, as well. An overabundance of productive receivers on an Andy Reid offense is a terrific problem to have.

I'm somehow kinda higher on Ross and hope he at least gets a few looks, but if this is going to be anyones coming out party its probably Rice

Mahomes will target him frequently, and he will produce... 90 yards and 2 TD

I don't really understand why Ross and Rice aren't getting more looks. It's not like anyone ahead of them is tearing it up. I will say I saw Ross lined up in the red zone in the slot, aka the Jody Fortson role. Andy is on to something there.

James and Toney are giving Reid every excuse in the book to finally test this new dynamic duo, there is really no other choice... I'm a fan of seeing his hand forced a little bit here

Play the kids Andy, you just might be surprised

When I was in college, I took a trip down to Austin over the summer. A Dad of a close friend of mine worked at a resort and got my buddy and I a suite there. We were chilling in a hot tub and all of the sudden 4 women, who I can only assume were models (all blonde, over 6'0 feet tall, and just with that "bombshell" look) sat in the hot tub around us.

I'm not even going to pretend on Chiefsplanet that my buddy and I were suave in the slightest. He and I did not manage a word the rest of the time we were there. The gals pretended we weren't there, and we pretty much were just physically incapable of saying anything the rest of the time we were in there. There was just a whole other stratosphere of attractiveness that I had never seen in person until that moment. It was wild.

I'm very surprised by Richie James but pleased at this young man. He reminds me of Dez Bryant. Once timing and comfort are established between him and PM2 - yeah LOOK :eek:UT!!

J Ross will break the top 10 by the end of the season.;)

Is Kennan Allen always such shitty run blocker?
I never noticed, but if he is you'd think that just has to be lack of effort based on his size.

Doubt.

He's already becoming the WR that Mahomes is going to the most.... Hope this leads to good things this year from him. I like this kid a lot.

Excited to see this guy with full time reps. Though i do hope he's hitting the jugs machine hard. He's been inconsistent catching the ball since preseason.

We don't really care that it caused Gabbert an INT, but if that were Mahomes getting credited with the INT off a tipped pass, we'd be livid.

Stephan had a concussion

Kind of reminds me a bit at times of Tyreeks issue with letting the ball get to his chest that bounced off and became an interception.

Sometimes it's off his chest, sometimes it's off his hands. It's concerning.

If he can get it figured out he'll thrive in the offense with his skillset

This isn’t a new issue with him.

Yeah - like I said, too many of these aren't concentration drops at this point. It's the only major concern I have with him.

These are technique drops and they're harder to fix. Sometimes its just a mental block; think of guys like Amari Cooper who normally had soft hands and for a year just shit the bed every time he was thrown to.

Guys can get over the mental block and their technique follows suit because they're not pressing. That's my hope here with Rice.

Otherwise it may be a bumpy road while he irons that out.

Correct. That's why it should be concerning.

Yeah that's where im at with it too. He may be pressing a little. Some of it may still be the speed of the game; thinking too much.

Continue giving him reps and hope it becomes more consistent. Hopefully no game changing drops/deflections occur in the mean time.

Two seasons ago we saw Mahomes throw 5 interceptions that bounced off of a recievers hands/body. Hopefully he can work it out. I honestly think the Gabbert pick had as much to do with not having the reps together as it did with Rice having poor technique.

Throw him the damn ball. He needs to lead our WRs in snaps.

I likes what I sees. Dude just has the look of an NFL WR.

Not a fan of the drops, though. Hilarious that a guy can have every requirement needed to excel as an NFL player but his greatest weakness is literally the most important skill for his position- catching the ****ing football lol

Off to a better start than Jonathan Baldwin got off to and I had way higher expectations for Baldwin!

High ceiling with this kid! He’s surprising me!

Im tellin ya. Drops are the least important issue for a WR. The diff between league best and league worst is not even statistically significant year to year. It just happens. Some guys more prone but barely a big deal

It could be worse Quintin Johnston so far is a bum...Williams tears his ACL and Josh Palmer is gonna get the spot.

This is an odd thing to say.

Despite the drops, Rice has still been a pretty big positive. Of course it could be worse.

Some guys just struggle with drops

I was saying for snaps and such, the one that is throwing me off is how good Tank Dell has been, don't think anyone saw that.

Jayden Reed and Josh Downs I expected them to be very good in their roles..Addison and Flowers basically as advertised...

QJ and Njigba have been disappointing.

A simple drop isn’t a big issue. Statistically speaking, it’s basically nil.

I’m more worried about potential of deeper issues.

Guy drops too many balls and he can lose confidence in himself while the QB and coaches also lose confidence in him. If he gets in his head about it, it can derail a promising career. There is a psychological element to it.

Plus, obviously we’ve had some issues with dropped balls leading to INTs and those frustrate the hell out of me.

I’m not counting on him being able to improve the drops by a huge measure, but I do think he will learn to focus on the ball till it’s in his hands more. I just think it’s part of him as a player. He will make a lot of incredible plays, it I think he will always have focus drops.

He’s very very similar to Dwayne Bowe in that sense, but he’s a lot more focused than Bowe ever was (even during Haley years) and I think he will have similar production to Bowe.

As someone else said, we just need to hope that his drops don’t change games by tipped pick 6s.

I wonder if mahomes is more annoyed by drops or players not hitting their spots. By his body language it seems to be the latter. And despite rices inexperience he seems like one of the best in the WR room already. As long as he keeps getting open, I think that’ll continue to keep his confidence up as he works on the drops.

Probably both.

Beinemy said it a couple years back: Mahomes is a competitive prick lol