Chiefs stock watch: Rashee Rice rises toward prominent role after Week 5
By Ken Coltharp
The Kansas City Chiefs put away the Minnesota Vikings by a final score of 27-20 in the late Sunday afternoon window despite about the most tense 30 minutes that Chiefs Kingdom has had to endure since last year's AFC Divisional Playoff.
The Chiefs were able to pull this one out thanks to some timely defense and big-time catches down the stretch. Travis Kelce went from potentially catching a season-ending injury on the most dubious turf the NFL has to offer this side of Arizona to coming back after halftime and putting up a stat line of 10 catches for 67 yards and a big-time touchdown in the third quarter.
Some players were a huge part of this win, and a couple continue falling down the depth chart. Let's get into this week's Chiefs Stock Watch.
Stock Up: Rashee Rice
Rashee Rice continues to find his stock rising as he progresses in his rookie year in Andy Reid's offense as he found the endzone for the second time this year. The numbers from this game do not necessarily stand out on their own (four catches for 33 yards), but Patrick Mahomes has been turning to him more often in clutch situations.
On this touchdown, Rice beat Vikings cornerback Byron Murphy Jr. easily off the line of scrimmage on a quick slant and muscled his way into the end zone by running through two more Viking defenders. This play came on 3rd-and-goal with the game tied in the third quarter, which makes this one of the biggest catches of Rice's young career. What makes this play even more impressive is that there was some miscommunication two plays earlier where Mahomes thought Rice would keep running to the open area in the back of the end zone, but Rice cut his route off early, and the throw went out of bounds.
All of this tells me that Mahomes has a ton of confidence in the rookie out of SMU to go right back to him, especially on a 3rd-and-goal. There is absolutely no reason for Rice not to be the WR1 going forward. He is outplaying everyone else in that wide receiver room and needs more playing time, especially ahead of some other guys occupying that room longer than him.