Quote:
Originally Posted by duncan_idaho
If you didn’t catch it live, SMU OC Casey Woods was on 810 this morning talking about Rice.
He talked about the broken toe that limited him in 2022, and also about how they prepped Rice.
It sounds like their offense tries to do a lot of things Reid does (every receiver knows the concepts of each receiver position, option routes based on reads) and they moved arrive around in the slot and outside. Which could be really beneficial in helping Rice adjust and pick up faster than the average WR pick.
I think Rice will be a fun fit for KC. I don’t think he’ll be first man up to take over the Smith-Schuster role - that is probably Skyy Moore - but I do think he’ll be a nice weapon when facing single coverage without safety help. His contested catch ability makes him a tough 1x1 matchup.
Moore performed pretty well in that role in a few spots (especially that second Chargers game, his best game of the year), so I’m pretty comfortable/confident they’ll fill that.
I think the best thing with Rice is that he just gives them another option to deal with how a defense is running. He can win 1x1s in a different way. So if a team is doubling Kelce and playing single high, you can use MvS and Rice off of each other to out that safety in the blender.
Rice should also be a good weapon against cover 2 shells and quarters with his body control and ability to make plays in “the Turkey hole” and his YAC skills.
It’s just a great complement. They have WRs now who can create quick separation (Toney and Moore). They have the deep speed guy in MvS. And they now have a physical, contested catch guy who can win back shoulders or snatch slants against sticky coverage.
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I think this is right, but I wouldn't be surprised if he took a decent number of those JJSS snaps. If Rice's 10-20 yrd speed allows him early separation and his body control, hands and strength allow him to win late, that's the upper ceiling. If he has a Moore-like season I wouldn't mind at all, assuming though that Moore does step up.