Rookie WR Jalen Royals reminds Chiefs of Rashee Rice

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas Metropolis Chiefs preliminary curiosity in drafting extensive receiver Jalen Royals occurred due to his playmaking skill in school. Royals had 21 touchdowns and a wholesome 15.2-yards per catch common in 20 video games over his closing two seasons at Utah State.

The extra they checked out Royals, the extra they noticed extra qualities that reminded them of one in every of their very own main extensive receivers, Rashee Rice.

“His sport is similar to Rashee’s,” director of participant personnel Ryne Nutt stated after the Chiefs drafted Royals in April within the fourth spherical. “He is obtained huge fingers, sturdy fingers, and he is superb after the catch.

“[Run after the catch] is an enormous a part of our offense. That is one thing we search for in receivers. We search for velocity. The child had that 4.40 [40-yard dash at the scouting combine]. We search for power, and he has that. Then we search for route working and that is most likely an space the place Rashee needed to sort of develop slightly bit, so we sort of thought they have been related in that respect.”

The Chiefs did not get many huge passing performs final season. One motive was the lack of Rice early within the 12 months due to a knee harm. They’re anticipating Rice again as a part of a veteran group of extensive receivers that additionally contains Hollywood Brown, Xavier Worthy and JuJu Smith-Schuster.

That does not essentially remove the probabilities of Royals getting taking part in time as a rookie.

“He could make an impression instantly,” stated Greg Castillo, the Chiefs’ western regional scout. “The [run-after-catch] skill stands out, and that was by way of his three years at Utah State. He can separate with the brief route and he can separate with the intermediate route. He is obtained a ton of versatility.

“That is the sweetness about this participant is the pure versatility. He can beat a man off press protection [or] he can run proper by you. When the ball is in his fingers, he can run proper by way of you.”

Rice was main the NFL with 24 receptions by way of the primary three video games final season earlier than his knee harm. He was additionally the chief in yards after the catch on the time with 185.

The Chiefs missed his skill to take a brief move and switch it into an extended achieve. They might have an alternative choice for that in Royals, who had greater than half of his 834 receiving yards final season after the catch.

“Simply making an attempt so as to add a pair yards after the catch has undoubtedly been a think about my sport,” Royals stated. “I performed working again rising up. I am used to getting yards after contact. Perhaps 3 yards every catch might be useful.”

The Chiefs did not essentially enter the draft on the lookout for a large receiver with expertise much like these of Rice. They drafted a large receiver within the high two rounds in every of the three earlier years, together with Rice in 2023 and Worthy final 12 months.

These picks, plus the offseason signings of Brown and Smith-Schuster, gave the Chiefs a stable begin in constructing a depth chart at extensive receiver. However when the fourth spherical got here round and Royals was obtainable, the Chiefs could not resist.

“We watched his tape earlier than the Senior Bowl [and thought], ‘Hey, this man’s sort of fascinating,”’ Nutt stated. “Then he goes to the Senior Bowl and we thought he did properly so he obtained much more on the radar. Then he goes to the mix and runs a 4.40 and he jumps a 36 [inch broad jump] and we’re like, ‘Oh, this child’s explosive.’ Then you definately get the sort of coaches concerned and we Zoom him, and we speak and we’re like, ‘Yeah, we might use this child.’

“With Rashee getting back from harm and making an attempt to get proper, the hopes are this child can step in and attempt to get some taking part in time and assist us out.”