His advanced stats have shown he is elite from the get go & his production has shown it since he started getting consistently around 70%+ snaps (WR1 type snaps) starting wk 12 his rookie season
'23 - from wk 12-17 (Chiefs sat their starters wk 18) he was WR5 in PPG in PPR (& was overall in Avg Seperation/10th in YPRR/12th rated WR tied with Puka/16th in Route Win Rate/etc for the season) .... then he broke Jamar Chase's playoff rookie WR total catch record helping his team win a SB having more receptions & yards that playoffs (as a rookie) than JSN just had during his teams SB run
'24 - got better that offseason & was WR2 in PPG & YPG up till Mahomes took Rices knee out
'25 - was WR5 in PPG/WR9 in Avg Seperation/#1 in YAC per reception/& WR11 in YPG despite coming back mid season after being out of football for over a year & having major knee surgery plus also starting back on a snap count 👀
Rice turned 26 this month so the next 4 years are his prime. The only reason he wasnt top 16 pick was he broke a bone in his foot his last season in college but played through it so many scouts said he was "inconsistent" lol. Up till that happened he was AVERAGING 9 catches/163 YPG/& 1 TD 👀
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