Rashee Rice shows critics he's poised for a big second season for Chiefs

There was lots of talk about the Kansas City Chiefs wide receivers this offseason, but none of it was especially positive for Rashee Rice. After enjoying a greaat rookie year that culminated in a Super Bowl win, Rice's offseason was dominated by news of his legal troubles stemming from a high-speed car crash back in March.

From there, the Chiefs made two high-profile additions at wide receiver with free agent Marquise "Hollywood" Brown and rookie draft pick Xavier Worthy. At that point, Rashee Rice's stock as KC's future at the position looked grim, but Thursday night against the Baltimore Ravens he proved that his future in KC looks as bright as ever.

Rashee Rice was KC's most reliable weapon in their season opener, going for an impressive 7 receptions for 103 yards in KC's season opening 27-20 win over the Ravens. While Xavier Worthy certainly deserves praise for his two big touchdown plays in the game, it was Rice who consistently moved the chains for the Chiefs. He picked right back up where he left off down the stretch last season, looking especially explosive as a yards-after-the-catch weapon.

Plays like this one are becoming routine for Rice.

Just how good can Rashee Rice be this season?

It's just one game, so we shouldn't get too carried away, but Rice ended last season as one of the most important weapons in the offense and it certainly looked like he's going to be at the center of what they do again this season. If Rice were to average what he did on Thursday over 17 games that would be 119 receptions for 1,751 yards. I'm not saying that's what fans should expect this season, but it does put how good he was on Thursday in perspective.

The scary thing for the rest of the NFL is that is wasn't just vs the Ravens that Rice has looked that good. If you combine his game on Thursday with his final 10 games from last season (including the playoffs) and average those 11 games over a 17-game season it would still be 117 receptions for over 1,300 yards. Eleven games isn't exactly a small sample size.

Now, could Xavier Worthy's role in the offense continue to grow? Sure. Could the return of Hollywood Brown cut into Rice's production? Possibly. Could we see Travis Kelce more involved in the passing game some weeks? Definitely, but we can't ignore what Rice has done, both last season and in the opener against the Ravens.

It may have been a tumultuous offseason for Rashee Rice and we'll still have to see what happens with his legal situation, but with his court case still months away and the NFL waiting for the legal case to play out, a suspension this season seems unlikely. If that's the case I think we need to give Rice the credit he deserves on the field and recognize that despite the exciting additions to their wide receiver room this offseason, their best weapon may be the one that was already here.