I mean, he’s on pace to match Tyreek Hill’s rookie season in yards and TDs, if not exceed those numbers. Granted, Tyreek started before Mahomes, and as a rookie he returned a lot of punts, but look where he’s gotten now.

Rice hasn’t gotten as many targets as I’d like, but if you watch some of his catches, he clearly has some of the best route running chops of the receiver corps. I suppose that’s not saying a whole lot, but as I mentioned, the way he managed to find space for that TD catch against the chargers while staying in bounds showed a ton of sharpness for any rookie. There are several other film analysts who have a lot of faith in him to take the next step as well, so I don’t think it’s just fans like myself wishcasting. I feel like he’s picking up Big Red’s system much faster than the other guys, and unlike Kadarius Toney, he can actually stay on the field.

I agree he has a long way to go, but you can say that about any rookie skill player. If he gets more reps and more targets, he’ll develop faster. Andy just has to have more trust in that happening.