Players selected in the seventh round of the NFL Draft usually don’t get many headlines. However, things are different with USC’s Brenden Rice, who was taken in the seventh round (No. 225) of the 2024 draft by the Los Angeles Chargers.
Rice is not only the son of Hall of Fame wide receiver Jerry Rice but also plays the same position as his father. While the Chargers likely don’t expect the younger Rice to be as near as good a player, it seems like they believe he could step in and provide them depth at a position of need.
While it is easy to assume that Rice was selected in part thanks to having a famous father, that isn’t quite true. He had a solid college career that saw him catch 76 passes for 1,255 yards and 15 touchdowns in the past two seasons. On top of that, his 17.6 yards per catch in 2023 were third among all receivers in Pac-12.
As a matter of fact, an argument could be made that being NFL royalty did Rice a disservice. Most mock drafts projected him to be selected in the third or fourth round, but ended up having to wait a lot longer to hear his name called.
While Rice probably isn’t happy about being passed so many times, he lands in a great situation. The Chargers cleared their wide receiver room during the offseason and had only four wideouts on their roster before the draft. This means that Rice will have more opportunities to play meaningful snaps and perhaps embark on a respectable NFL career.
