Could it have been anybody else?

There are nine games in the books — with eight more to go. The Kansas City Chiefs are taking their bye week in Week 10, so it’s a good time to dish out some midseason awards.

The Arrowhead Pride writing staff members each had one vote for our seven midseason awards. There are 17 contributors voting, so there will be 17 votes tallied for each award. In this post, we’ll reveal our offensive rookie of the year to this point of the season.

WR RASHEE RICE

Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images

VOTING: WR Rashee Rice (17)

While the rest of the Chiefs’ wide receiver unit has been lackluster up to this point in the season, there is reason for excitement for Rashee Rice. His 32 receptions for 378 yards are not going to win any awards or break records, but his four receiving touchdowns are tied for the most on the team with Travis Kelce.

The team has made an effort to target him in the red zone as well as get him the ball in the open field and for a good reason. 263 of Rice’s receiving yards have been after the catch, putting him at 9th in the NFL among all wide receivers. He has shown a blend of speed and physicality when running in the open field.

Not only has Rice shown his ability to create with the ball in his hands after the catch, but he also has provided an explosion to the Chiefs’ offense putting up four plays, each over 25 yards through the first half of the season.

Rice has been fun to watch early on, but he still has room to grow as a player. His average depth of target has only been five yards, which makes sense considering most of his production has either come with him catching quick passes around the line of scrimmage as well as screen passes. Rice has also had issues with drops, which might have limited the amount of downfield plays he has received.

The second half of the season will be about the Chiefs ramping up how they use Rice, and figuring out if he can become the wide receiver that this team has been longing for. Perhaps the most encouraging sign for Rice is that he seems to have a natural connection with Patrick Mahomes. It will be fun to see if their chemistry grows as the Chiefs head into the playoffs.