Could Rashee Rice reach 1,000 yards receiving this season?

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In a season surrounded with questions about the Kansas City receivers, the youngest member of that group is putting together a strong campaign.

From the moment he trained with him before the 2023 NFL Draft, the reigning league MVP, Patrick Mahomes has had a soft spot for Rashee Rice.

The Chiefs’ second-round selection in April has 527 receiving yards in his rookie campaign, second on the team behind Travis Kelce (732).

Rice is averaging 12.0 yards-per-catch at this stage of the season.

That’s better than Kelce’s 10, while they are the co-leaders regarding TD catches for KC this year (five).

“Patrick Friendly”

Since the start of the regular season, the Chiefs have often involved Rice in the receiving game, targeting him multiple times in each encounter.

The 23-year-old has delivered, making two or more grabs in each of his appearances this year.

In the Chiefs’ Week 12 victory over the Las Vegas Raider (31-17), Rice put together his best outing as a professional, making eight catches for 107 yards and a touchdown.

His five scores thus far are the fifth-most by a rookie in a single season in Chiefs’ history.

It isn’t only Mahomes who is taking notice of what Rice is doing on the field, though.

Head coach Andy Reid says that Rice is beginning to figure out how to make plays in this league.

“Getting better at understanding how to play against these crazy zones that these defenses throw at you and getting into space where you’re available,” Reid said on Wednesday.

“I’m saying he’s got a feel, and he’s building in all those different defenses and kind of seeing that and putting that together.”

Mahomes was recently asked what Reid meant when referring to Rice on Monday as “Patrick Friendly.”

“How you work, I think that’s the biggest thing,” Mahomes said. “If guys continue to work and continue to practice, and I get a feel for how they run routes and a feel for how they’re seeing stuff on the football field, it just makes my job easier.”

Chasing 1,000 yards

When you look at Mahomes’ resume, it’s easy to think his play-making ability makes Rice look good, but some advanced statistics suggest it could be the other way around.

When targeting Rice, Mahomes has completed 79.2% of his throws, a 9.6 yards average per attempt with five TD throws and zero picks per NFL Research.

Mahomes meanwhile boasts a 138.0 passer rating when targeting Rice, the second-highest among QB-WR tandems per Next Gen Stats (minimum 50 targets).

Rice is the first Chiefs rookie receiver since Dwayne Bowe in 2007 to have 100 yards through the air in a single game.

He’s averaging 48 receiving yards per game, which will have to increase if he wants to hit 1,000 this season.

The Chiefs have six games remaining but some of those contests will be against some dismal defensive units.

The Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Chargers are 31st and 32nd, respectively, for yards allowed per game, and those are the final two Chiefs’ opponents in the regular season.

Meanwhile, Green Bay and Las Vegas are in the bottom half of the league in that category.

Whether Rice achieves that feat or not, there’s a lot to like about how quickly he’s progressing as a receiver.