The Kansas City Chiefs are out to a strong start to the season at 4-1, sitting atop the AFC West and tied for the overall conference lead with the Miami Dolphins.
Not all has gone swimmingly for Kansas City, though, specifically in a wide receiver room that has been prone to drops. The Chiefs have two of the league’s leaders in drop rate playing important roles at the position.
Could that be an issue in Kansas City’s Thursday Night Football clash with the Denver Broncos?
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Drop Rate a Concern for the Kansas City Chiefs
Chiefs star quarterback Patrick Mahomes remains among the NFL‘s top passers so far this fall with the seventh-most passing yards (1,287 yards) and sixth-most touchdown passes (10 TDs) in the league through Week 5.
Mahomes has done that despite not having any wide receiver post truly eye-catching numbers.
Just two of Kansas City’s pass catchers are over 200 receiving yards through five weeks, and one of those is tight end Travis Kelce (27 catches for 222 yards and three touchdowns).
Mahomes has spread the love around quite a bit, with six players over 100 receiving yards. Meanwhile, five wide receivers, two running backs, and two tight ends have caught at least seven passes.
Rookie Rashee Rice (17 catches, 173 yards, two TDs) and fourth-year receiver Kadarius Toney (14 catches, 83 yards) are key members of that group with the team’s second-most and third-most catches, respectively.
The pair are also the league leaders in drop rate, with Rice first at 16.7%, while Toney is just behind him at 15.8%.
Rashee Rice leads all WRs with a 16.7% drop rate.
Kadarius Toney is second at 15.8%.
— Heath Cummings (@heathcummingssr) October 10, 2023
Rice is tied with the Cincinnati Bengals’ Tee Higgins for the second-most drops in the league with four on 24 targets compared to Higgins’ four on 32 targets, according to FantasyPros.
Toney is tied for third with Tampa Bay’s Mike Evans and Jacksonville’s Calvin Ridley with three drops on 19 targets, compared to 31 targets for Evans and 36 for Ridley.
The Los Angeles Rams’ Puka Nacua, meanwhile, leads the category with six drops on a league-leading 63 targets.
Toney’s tally is due in large part to a rough Week 1 showing where he hauled in just one of his five targets for a single yard. He has since caught 13 of 14 targets for 82 yards, including five catches on six targets for 26 yards last week against the Minnesota Vikings. Additionally, 17 of his 19 targets have been deemed catchable, though drops are only taken from the catchable targets.
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Rice’s four drops have been more spread out. He caught three passes on five targets in the season-opening loss to Detroit, then hauled in five of seven against Chicago, three of five versus the Jets, and four of five in last week’s win over the Vikings. In terms of those targets’ quality, 21 of Rice’s 24 targets have been deemed catchable.
Aside from the Week 1 loss to the Raiders, it seems drops have not necessarily harmed Kansas City in a significant way to this point. Still, having two of the league’s drop leaders playing significant roles could come back to haunt the Chiefs at some point.