KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- With Marquise Brown out with an injury and Travis Kelce off to a slow start, the Kansas City Chiefs needed wide receiver Rashee Rice to be better than he was as a rookie last season.
Through three games, he has delivered. Rice is third in the NFL in catches (24) and fourth in yards (288) and the 3-0 Chiefs have no stronger candidate to be their early-season MVP.
"He's a complete receiver,'' quarterback Patrick Mahomes said. "He's getting better and better and he can do it all. I think people see the short stuff and they get enamored by it because it's so special when he catches the ball, but he can catch the ball down the field, he can block, he can do whatever -- everything it takes to be a good receiver in this league."
Rice's breakout season comes as he awaits trial on eight charges after allegedly causing a high speed crash in Dallas. He is facing one count of aggravated assault, one count of collision involving serious bodily injury and six counts of collision involving injury in connection with a crash on a Dallas freeway in March in which he was traveling as fast as 119 miles per hour, according to police. He is also being sued by two people who say they were injured in the crash.
For much of the offseason, Rice's chances of playing a full season didn't look good. But the NFL has yet to intervene with a suspension.
Rice said being able to play has been a bonus. And on the football field, he has become Mahomes' top target.
"It feels great,'' Rice said of the focus being on football. "I hope it starts in practice. It starts on Tuesday, first day of practice. Even in the meeting room, just take everything seriously. Don't get too comfortable."
Rice has benefitted from how opponents have opted to cover the Chiefs, which is to respect the deep speed of rookie receiver Xavier Worthy and the underneath ability of Kelce.
"You've seen that he's been more versatile this year," Mahomes said. "He is able to run more and more routes and then the way he's able to catch the ball and make stuff happen after the catch, he is a hard guy to tackle. And so being able to do both those things, I think it helps that the speed out there is kind of helping spread out the field for him and then there's a lot of attention on Travis.''
His numbers will likely level off when defenses adjust their coverage, which seems inevitable.
In the meantime, Rice has two 100-yard games and three times as many catches as Kelce, the Chiefs' second-leading receiver.
He had two 100-yard games last year in the regular season and another in the playoffs.
"I'm not going to say exactly when I feel like I'm going to get the ball,'' Rice said. "But there are certain looks where I know that a linebacker may stay inside of Trav and a nickel or a safety plays over the top of Trav, which will just leave the middle of the field open for me one-on-one with nickel or any other defender out there.
"I'm having a lot more fun, and we've got a lot of guys on the field that are. ... Trav taking eyes off but also [Worthy], and we've got a lot of weapons on the field, so it's a lot more fun that way.''
The Chiefs liked Rice enough to draft him in the second round last year. They believed his ability to run after the catch and break tackles in college at SMU would translate to the NFL, and it has. As a rookie, Rice caught a lot of screen passes to try to take advantage of coverages. He finished the 2023 season with 938 receiving yards and seven touchdowns on 79 receptions.
"He's a good, consistent catcher, works himself up field and is tough and plays physical," coach Andy Reid said. "At the same time, he's a willing blocker, will get in there and mix it up there, so he's really developing his whole game in all areas. He'll keep rolling but it's a way smaller margin than what he had to grow from the beginning here last year."
The Chiefs are getting more from Rice this season. His air yards per target have increased from 4.85 last year to 5.03 this season. That's far from leading the league but still an indication the Chiefs are getting the ball to him in ways other than screens and quick slants.
His longest play of the season is a 44-yard touchdown pass deep down the left sideline in a Week 2 game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
"The route running, the understanding how to get open in zones,'' offensive coordinator Matt Nagy said when asked how Rice has improved over last season. "He's really good in man [coverage]. He's physical. We all know what he can do after he catches the ball. He's violent, he likes to get hit. That's rare sometimes at the wide receiver position."
The Chiefs play at the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday (4:25 p.m. ET, CBS) and Rice hopes to continue his trajectory.
"I would say just getting a wake-up call,'' Rice said when asked about his motivation to improve over his rookie season. "Being able to come out here and play with my team this year.''