KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Kansas City Chiefs thought they were set at wide receiver heading into the season by bringing back four players who contributed to last year's Super Bowl winning team.
It speaks to just how much this season has deviated from the plan that their leading player at the position is instead a rookie, second-round draft pick Rashee Rice.
They also this week traded for Mecole Hardman, bringing back a player who caught 151 passes and scored 19 touchdowns in four seasons for the Chiefs before leaving as a free agent earlier this year for the New York Jets. The move suggests the Chiefs are looking to get more production from a receiving game that has featured a consistent threat in tight end Travis Kelce and hope for bigger things from Rice.
"This isn't necessarily the type of offense where you're going to see one guy who has 18 targets every week," offensive coordinator Matt Nagy said. "That's just not us and it's always kind of been that way. Over time there have been some outliers here or there, but I think that's the beauty of the offense, too.
"We have a lot of guys that are learning to play wide receiver within this offense, and we're learning who they are. It's just a little bit of both, and then just continuing to grow so that when we get to the end of the season, we're rolling."
The Chiefs have a lot of room for that growth. Their wide receivers have caught 70 passes, the same total as last season through six games.
But the yards-per-catch average is far down from last season, when the Chiefs were eighth in the league among wide receivers at 13.9. This year, the wide receivers are 18th at 12.2 yards.
Most of their veteran wide-outs have yet to produce as the Chiefs hoped. Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Kadarius Toney and Skyy Moore have combined for just 35 catches, 353 yards and two touchdowns.
"I still feel like at times when it's most needed, guys are making the plays," quarterback Patrick Mahomes said, pointing to big catches by Moore and Rice late in last week's game against the Denver Broncos.
"As we continue in the season, we have to continue to get better and better so that hopefully when we get to the playoffs, we're hitting our stride and we can really match our defense in regards of intensity."
Even though he practiced with the Chiefs for the first time on Thursday, Hardman could play in Sunday's game against the Los Angeles Chargers at Arrowhead Stadium. His most productive season with the Chiefs came as a rookie in 2019, when he scored seven touchdowns, including one on a kickoff return, and had a per-catch average of 20.7 yards.
But he was playing well last year, with 17 catches for 226 yards and four touchdowns in his final four games of the regular season before he tore his groin so badly he said he couldn't move his legs for a time and spent 10 days in the hospital.
Hardman said he's at 100% now and the Chiefs might utilize him in much the same role as they had. The Chiefs tried to take advantage of his speed by getting him the ball on jet sweeps, screens and pop passes.
"He's done that and I think he's good at it," Nagy said. "But we just have to decide, 'Is that something that we want to do as we grow here and do we want to add more things to that? When we didn't have him up until now this past year or offseason, what are some things that maybe we wish we did do with him now that we don't have him?' So we'll work through all that, but he's good at all that. He has that element of speed."
Rice has already taken on a bigger role than the Chiefs anticipated for him, at least early in the season. He hasn't been perfect, dropping a couple of passes for a drop percentage of 7.1%. But he still trails only Kelce on the Chiefs in catches (21) and receptions (245).
"In practice we started with that fast pace, so during the preseason it got me ready, got my nerves out of the way, got me out of the way in being in a rush instead of just being calm and playing fast, so when the regular season got here, I was just ready for my moment," Rice said.
"We just have a great quarterback who can get out of the pocket and he can always do something amazing when the ball is in his hands. So if you're available and you're in his eyesight all you have to do is watch the ball and make the play."
The Chiefs have tried to get the ball to Rice when he can run after the catch. His average of almost seven yards after the catch is fifth in the NFL among wide receivers.
"I think it's a huge part [of my game]," Rice said. "I feel like every time I get the ball in my hands the minimum I'm going to get is five yards. I feel like any kind of screen or anything you get, any run of four yards or more is a great [gain] to get the offensive game started."
With the Chiefs getting little from many of their other wide receivers, Rice's play has become vital to the Chiefs. The Chiefs have 11 games left in the regular season, so there's plenty of time for one or more of their other wide receivers to catch him statistically.
Nagy said he wouldn't be surprised if Rice doesn't lead the wide-outs when the season is finished.
"I don't think so, no," Nagy said. "I know week to week it could be somebody that jumps up and has a great game. And so these guys know that in our walkthrough, when we're in practice, it's like, 'Who's going to get it this week?'
"I think that's what the strength of this offense can be."