Entering the 2024 NFL Draft, former USC wide receiver Brenden Rice was seen by most draft analysts as an early Day 3 pick, likely in the fourth round. Instead, he was still on the board in round 7 when the Los Angeles Chargers took him at No. 225 overall.
With a couple of weeks to lick his wounds, Rice has his head up and is ready to prove many people and NFL teams wrong.
Rice's college career got off to a slow start as he caught just 27 passes in two seasons at Colorado. He transferred to USC ahead of the 2022 season and put his name on the map with 11 touchdown catches last season. He has good size at 6-foot-2 and 208 pounds. However, he was passed on several times over in the NFL Draft and it's unclear as to why, unless teams just weren't sold on the small sample size.
Chargers WR and former USC star, Brenden Rice. #BoltUp
— Darren M. Haynes (@DarrenMHaynes) May 10, 2024
Rice is the son of Pro Football Hall of Fame wide receiver Jerry Rice.
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However, Rice has one thing going for him that could only be seen as a major plus and that is his biggest supporter — his father, Jerry Rice.
When Jerry Rice came into the league as the No. 16 overall pick in the 1985 NFL Draft out of Mississippi Valley State, he was seen as a player with a lot of upside but one with a lot to prove having come from a small school. In fact, Rice was the third wide receiver taken in that draft.
All he did was become the greatest wide receiver to ever play the game and that was due to his relentless work ethic and dedication to his craft. If anyone is going to be able to teach Brenden how to rise from such a draft slide, it is Jerry.
Jerry Rice not happy with son Brenden's draft slide
In speaking with reporters recently, Brenden confirmed that his father was not happy with how late he went in the draft. He also talked about how his dad plans to help him in this journey.
"My dad was hot. The first words he said was, 'Time to go to work.' He said, 'I will be with you every step of the way.' He said, 'Now, I'm going to be involved within all of your workouts from now on, and we have a lot of people to prove wrong, a lot of teams that go ahead.' It's going to be one hell of a story, that's all that I'm going to say [laughter]."
Brenden Rice is still just 22 years old. He went to a great situation where he will get to work with a coach that has reached the top of the NFL and the college game as well as one of the best quarterbacks in the league. Having Jerry Rice as his top cornerman certainly won't hurt either.