Chiefs Draft Rashee Rice: Dynasty Rookie Outlook (2023 Fantasy Football)

The 2023 NFL Draft is here! After months of waiting, we finally know where the 2023 NFL Draft class will land. This information shapes the outlook for rookies in 2023 and beyond. We’re going to have you covered throughout and following the 2023 NFL Draft to help you prepare for your fantasy football leagues. Next up for many will be dynasty rookie drafts. To help you prepare to make your dynasty rookie draft picks, let’s dive into Thor Nystrom’s 2023 NFL Draft profile as well as Pat Fitzmaurice’s dynasty rookie draft outlook for Rashee Rice.

Dynasty Rookie Picks & Predictions: Chiefs Draft Rashee Rice

Let’s first see what NFL Draft expert Thor Nystrom says about Rashee Rice.

Thor Nystrom’s 2023 NFL Draft Outlook & Player Comp

Player comparison: Nate Burleson

We got to see a lot of Rashee Rice over the years simply because he was SMU’s favorite toy. The Mustangs peppered Rice with 352 targets in the last four seasons — 69.0% of them came on the boundary. Of those targets, nearly 20% came 20-plus yards downfield.

He’s not the shiftiest. As Rice himself stated by omission during his draft process by skipping the 3-cone. To his credit, Rice knows his limitations. He isn’t going to shake anyone out of a route break, and he isn’t going to try.

A staple of his game is the north-south explosion to get downtown (92nd- and 98th-percentile jumps). Rice has the muscle for downfield work — he does not get jarred off course before the catch point.

He has a deceptively large catch radius once there. Rice’s wingspan at the NFL Combine was equivalent to that of a person a shade over 6-foot-4. And, of course, he has proven ball skills in traffic. Rice converted 32-of-66 (48.5%) contested-catch opportunities in college.

Didn’t run a full route tree at SMU. Won at all three sectors all four years on campus. Changes foot patterns and tempos. Not sudden in his route breaks — pruning his route-tree utility in the NFL.

Can go up and get it — long arms come in handy in the sky, and he’s like a basketball rebounder in that contact through the back doesn’t affect his concentration. Doesn’t have elite height or speed, capping his ceiling to a solid NFL WR2.

2023 Dynasty Rookie Draft Outlook: Rashee Rice

Now THIS is a landing spot we can get excited about. The Chiefs traded up in the second round to select Rice, an exciting playmaker from SMU. He’ll be a popular target in dynasty rookie drafts since he’ll have a chance to earn substantial playing time right away and will be paired with Patrick Mahomes, the best pure passer in the NFL. Rice’s competition for WR snaps in Kansas City includes the perennially disappointing Marquez Valdes-Scantling, the oft-injured Kadarius Toney and the unproven Skyy Moore.

Rice had a superb senior season for SMU, catching 95 passes for 1,355 yards and 10 touchdowns. Rice is a downfield playmaker with exceptional body control, ball skills and leaping ability. At 6-0 and 200 pounds, Rice has good size to go along with 4.51 speed.

At 23, Rice is a slightly overaged prospect, and he only had one year of high-level production at SMU.

After landing in Kansas City, Rice could be taken as early as the late first round in 1QB dynasty rookie drafts, although he’ll probably go early in the second round most of the time. In superflex rookie drafts, Rice figures to be a mid-second-round pick.