Rashee Rice

The Chiefs appear to have struck gold with the 55th overall pick from the 2023 Draft, though Rice's rookie season was rather unconventional. His 4.7 aDOT was shallowest in the league among WRs that ran 200 or more routes, with only Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Rondale Moore seeing a larger share of their targets behind the line of scrimmage (28.0 percent). It's not what you'd expect from looking at Rice's prospect profile, as he had a 96-1,355-10 receiving line his senior year at SMU and then ran a 4.51 40 at 6-1, 204. While the profile perhaps hinted at a possession receiver more so than a deep threat, 'screen merchant' was a surprising outcome. That's not to say Rice was merely a product of Kansas City's system, as his 8.5 YAC average was second among WRs (Deebo Samuel - 9.0) and he also caught 13 of the 16 targets he drew 10-to-19 yards downfield and went 38-of-50 for 420 yards (8.4 YPT) within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage. On the other hand, he got just six looks of 20-plus yards downfield all season, catching one for a 67-yard gain. Even so, he almost certainly would've topped 1,000 yards if coach Andy Reid hadn't eased him in as a part-time player during the first half of the season. Rice was targeted at a reasonably high rate throughout -- 21.9 percent of routes Weeks 1-9, 23.2 percent Weeks 10-18 -- and quickly became a reliable fantasy starter once he was playing more than two-thirds of KC's snaps. He nonetheless feels anything but safe heading into Year 2, with legal problems from a hit-and-run likely to result in a suspension at some point and the Chiefs having acquired fellow wide receivers Marquise Brown and Xavier Worthy. It's hard to pinpoint Rice's fantasy value given the uncertainty of when he might be suspended and for how long.

Few prospects, if any, gained more fantasy value than Rice during the 2023 draft. A lot of mocks had him lasting until Round 3 or even Day 3, but he instead went 55th overall to a WR-needy team led by QB Patrick Mahomes and coach Andy Reid. Rice is already 23 and might be the slowest (4.51 40) of KC's top options at wide receiver, but he's also the densest (6-1, 204) and perhaps the strongest, with his 128-inch broad jump and 41-inch vertical showing good athleticism overall. He was a four-year contributor at SMU, including 1,355 yards and 10 TDs as a senior, and now joins a WR corps where the other lead candidates for playing time are 2022 second-round pick Skyy Moore, 2021 first-rounder Kadarius Toney and veteran deep threat Marquez Valdes-Scantling -- a trio that combined for only 131 targets last season. Rice stands a chance to emerge as the volume receiver of the bunch, with the Chiefs saying goodbye to JuJu Smith-Schuster and Mecole Hardman in March after trading Tyreek Hill the previous offseason.