Choosing which Kansas City Chiefs WR to start any given week can be difficult; there is little to no consistency to who Patrick Mahomes is targeting outside TE Travis Kelce.
Kelce is averaging 26% of the team’s targets so far this season, so if he is on the sideline, that opens up many targets for the other fantasy options on the team.
Previously, we have seen Marquez Valdes-Scantling have big games, Skyy Moore deliver once in a while, and Justyn Ross even make a big play. But lately, the two pass catchers behind Kelce in the pecking order seem to be rookie Rashee Rice and Kadarius Toney. Should you start Rice or Toney in fantasy football this week?
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Rashee Rice’s Fantasy Outlook This Week
Rice has had a classic start to a rookie season, coming in as WR55 after four games. In those four games, he had five targets in all but one of the games and caught an average of 35 yards per contest. He also had a TD in Week 1.
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It was in Week 5 that Rice looked to come into his own. He finished the week as WR23, catching four of his five targets for 33 yards and a TD.
It seems that Rice has earned the trust of Mahomes — not an easy thing to do — and now has the most receptions of any WR on the team. Mahomes has praised Rice’s ability to “learn on the go.”
We have one game where Rice played and Kelce did not, but that data is a little skewed since it was in Week 1. Even though it was Rice’s first game in the NFL, he caught three passes for 29 yards and a TD.
It shows that the Chiefs had faith in him from the beginning and wanted to get him involved quickly. It bodes well for the possibility of a strong fantasy outing on Thursday.
Rice comes in as WR36 in our PFN consensus rankings for Week 6.
No Travis Kelce, no problem. Patrick Mahomes finds Rashee Rice for the rookie’s 2nd career TD #ChiefsKingdom pic.twitter.com/H5Btos2TgT
— The Draft Network (@TheDraftNetwork) October 8, 2023
Kadarius Toney’s Fantasy Outlook This Week
Kadarius Toney has had a rough start to the year. A guy that the Chiefs continue to believe in had a case of the dropsies so bad to start the year that he deleted his Twitter account.
He was targeted five times and only caught one pass for one yard in the season’s first game. The rest of the season has not gone much better; his highest fantasy finish was in Week 5 when he was the WR54.
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Toney is fast and always has the potential to break a big play — we saw it in the Super Bowl last year — but he has not turned into the dependable receiving option that the Chiefs had hoped he would.
Trust is essential when you have a QB like Mahomes. Toney is currently WR75 in PFN’s consensus rankings for this week.
Which of the Chiefs WRs Should You Start?
Looking back on Week 1 when Kelce was out, both Toney and Rice tied with Noah Gray for the most targets with five. Trust and dependability to make the play is especially big in Kansas City, and Rice has shown that he is to be trusted.
Mahomes already targets him in the red zone — Kelce has had nine red-zone targets so far this year, but Rice is not that far behind with seven. Toney has only had two, and they were both in Week 1.
Rice seems to be on the verge of a breakout game. He has only played over 50% of the snaps once this season, and if Kelce does miss this week, I could see Rice turning into the go-to guy. He is the clear start over Toney.