We have a HC who runs an offense that consistently puts guys in positions to lead the league in separation statistics.

Those plays are just.....shit....sometimes they're just luck. Give me guys that get open.

I think Andy will get him open, so I'm not too worried about.
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Sure, but I think it's a nice bonus.
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Yeah, this is largely where I sit.

I don't think we need a 'jump ball' receiver and never have. Mahomes just doesn't have to have one. Give him time and even the smallest of lanes - he'll find someone to get the ball to. Even in the red zone, that guy sees throwing lanes that just aren't there for mere mortals. He's Neo reading the matrix in slow-motion out there.

Now - iiiiiiiiif Travis Kelce starts to slow, that calculus changes pretty dramatically. Because right now Kelce is his break glass in case of emergency guy.

Though to your point - I think we were going to try more of that last year. We looked like we were putting some of the back shoulder and/or fade routes - even those quick hitters into traffic - for JJSS and MVS. But they just didn't work. MVS doesn't have the body control and JJSS doesn't have the burst, IMO.

Rice has both. It seems like something we may be interested in adding - but we shall see.
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Who’s better?

Pickens or Rice?
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If his head is screwed on straight? Pickens


I said it then - people were just missing the fact that he was arguably the most talented AND most polished WR in the draft because Georgia receivers have a bad rap.

But he's long and fast and has good body control while also being an outstanding route runner.

Pickens was a 1st round talent virtually every season. I think he just has some maturity issues that scared teams off. There's really very little more you can ask from a WR prospect.

Pickens - again, speaking purely to raw talent - would've been the top WR in this class.
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I wanted to move up for Christian Watson, but when we didn't, I wanted Pickens. I really think that Andy Reid would have been a great head coach for Pickens, because Andy could make him very successful on the field, plus Andy has a way of helping troubled young men mature off the field as well. (Please people, be respectful and do not comment about how Reid's children turned out)
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A great possession WR in the NFL doesn't live on jump balls and fades.

Look at Michael Thomas before he got injured. They don't run away from the DB but use their body to box out and then the QB places the ball there with good ball placement (Brees).

Mahomes could do that with a Dhop or last year's draft Drake London.
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Question for Rice is whether he's big enough to do that. I think a floor for him involves the contested catch element not really translating because he's not as big as he plays, and NFL players shut that down. But even then I think the floor involves him adapting, and Reid focusing on, exploiting the explosive 10-20 yards he clearly has. So worst scenario is he's maybe doing the job we expected for Moore. Probably takes him and the coaching staff a year to work out exactly what they've got.
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Well, that's possible, but the 41 inch vertical and elite body control are probably going to play.

But I think there's a tendency here to think that's all there is to Rice, and I don't think that's the case. I think he leaned on it a bit in college, because he could.

There are some sloppy releases on the tape (errr video) and some of that may be the toe issue, and some of it may just be inconsistent footwork but there are also examples of really nice, clean snaps. So, to me, cleaning up his feet at the snap is really the main area of work needed. I don't think that's insurmountable.
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You'r spot on about Pickens. He was my pick last year. And I thought we had him until that last trade back. Still ticked off about that. BUT, I really think the Chiefs pick was Moore all the way, otherwise they would not have traded back.
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What true number 1, or hell true number 2 WR have they drafted? Many teams are bad at drafting certain positions. I'm just going on history and watching Mahomes scramble to get someone open instead of trying to force it as often as possible. I'm hoping Rice is awesome, and I'm even willing to give him time to do it, but I'm not crazy enough to ignore 6 years of drafting meh and run out and buy this guys Jersey either. I'm assuming you already ordered yours?
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They don't throw jump balls because they're highly volatile in completion percentage compared to just throwing to the open guy.
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No I think we agree. I guess my take is at worst it's possible the body control and vertical are less impactful because good, long, physical corners will be better at taking those away.

The issue of him leaning on those skills was raised in that PFF vid staylor shared (I think it was staylor). Their take was it's possible, but definitely not probable, he just never learns that he can't/shouldn't lean on these. Seems an overly pessimistic take to me, but as I say I think it takes time. Hopefully there's patience from all parties.
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I wonder what the RAS was on the other Rice? Are they relation?
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I was trying to understand the pick and someone mentioned to me that our offense is not as much spread/West Coast hybrid but more traditional West Coast now.

So KC was looking for a possession WR to line up outside(Juju did occasionally but he was awful at it) and Rice was one of the guys they wanted.

Will it work? No idea but this must have had Reids stamp of approval to ask Veach for a guy like this on his shopping list.
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