Laddie Morse
The Kansas City Chiefs will be an excellent team agin in 2023, that much is certain. What’s still uncertain is… who will get them there. With the rookie class giving it all they’ve got, even if one of them has an excellent year, you can only consider them a break-in player. Even though I believe more than one of the Chiefs rookie’s will qualify for this break-in honor, it’s the break-out players who will most likely get the Chiefs to another championship and bring home the coveted Break-out Player of the Year Trophy.
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Break-In PoY: Rashee Rice
Of all the rookies the Chiefs just drafted, the one I think will have the greatest impact is WR Rashee Rice. Here’s a look at the Chiefs 2023 Draft from a month ago:
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MAs you can see, Rice was the 55th overall pick in he draft. While Rice was the 7th WR taken in this draft, he was ranked lower than that, among all WRs. The writers at Chiefs Wire graded the pick from a C- to a B-.
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However, as many know, Rice spent part of his offseason in the Dallas area working out with Patrick Mahomes. Chiefs Wire also has an article called: “Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes says Rashee Rice has a ‘veteran-type mindset‘…. The article goes on to quote Mahomes as saying:
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“I think what you’ve all seen now even to this day now that he’s been here is I like the feel that he has when he was running the routes. A lot of times you get a lot [of] young dudes who are extremely athletic and they just run as fast as they can, and they’re just running around, and they don’t know exactly where to be at.”
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Here’s more of what Mahomes has to say about Rice:
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“I could feel where he would sit there and he would listen to guys like Trav, he would listen to Kadarius and those guys would talk and he would get a feel for how he was running the route. Obviously, you know he has the explosiveness and the jump ball ability, but the way he was able to kind of feel throughout the zone coverages and pull up in the right spot, that’s more of a veteran-type mindset for a receiver so I was very excited about that. And now we’ll just continue to work him in here and there and continue to push him to be better and better and he’ll have an impact in this offense this year.”
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“he’ll have an impact in this offense this year”…
That’s saying a lot. Especially when it’s coming out of Patrick Mahomes mouth. Especially when you’re referring to a rookie wideout. Last year the Chiefs drafted WR SkyY Moore in the second round as well — with the 54th overall pick — and Moore ended up with 22 receptions for 250 receiving yards. Should we expect more out of Rice in his rookie year? Oh yes! Here are Rashee Rice’s one-on-one reps from the Senior Bowl practice (1:27):
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Break-Out PoY: Kadarius Toney
Several publications say that Kadarius Toney will be the breakout play of the year and I would have to agree. In fact, if both Kadarius Toney and Rashee Rice are the Chiefs Break-Out and Break-In players of the year, it will mean K.C. likely has made it to another Super Bowl and will be in good shape in future years as well.
Toney played in 7 games for the Chiefs after Brett Veach traded for him. In his time as a Chiefs WR he had 14 receptions for 171 yards. The one many fans remember is his catch in the Super Bowl called “Corndog.” (0:19)
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It’s funny that Peter King doesn’t believe that Andy Reid has Patrick Mahomes step into the huddle and say the word, “Corndog” but that’s exactly what Mahomes does. Toney has one of the best Juke moves I’ve ever seen. Some compare him to Dante Hall:
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It’s worth repeating that… if you live by the juke, you could die by the juke. IOW… the move which makes Kadarius Toney so dangerous may also be responsible for getting him injured. We’ll have to wait and see on that one. Here’s Toney’s Super Bowl Punt return, a record for punt returns in a Super Bowl:
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Bucky Brooks thinks Kadarius Toney will be the Chiefs break-out player in 2023.
Jack McKessy of theDraftNetwork thinks Kadarius Toney will be the Chiefs break-out player this year as well.
Logan Lazarczyk of ChiefsWire.com also thinks Kadarius Toney will be the Chiefs break-out player this season.
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If Kadarius Toney does have a break-out year in 2023, it will be nothing but positive outcomes for the Chiefs.
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Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne
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