Chargers rookie wide receiver Brenden Rice was disappointed when he wasn’t drafted until the seventh round, but someone else was even more disappointed: Jerry Rice, Brenden’s father, who is widely regarded as the greatest wide receiver in NFL history.
Brenden said at the Chargers’ rookie minicamp he found it “very frustrating” to last until the seventh round but his dad was even more upset than he was.
“My dad was hot, my dad was hot,” he said. “First words he said were, ‘Time to go to work, I will be with you every step of the way, I will be involved with all your workouts from now on, we’ve got a lot of people to prove wrong.’”
Brenden said Jerry told him to make the rest of the league regret passing on him.
“He’s like, ‘Hell no, we’re going to take this to a different level. These guys going to feel us,’” Brenden Rice said.
Brenden said he watches film of his dad all the time but thinks they’re different as athletes and that he doesn’t necessarily model his game after his dad. But he did know that early in Jerry’s career he took some criticism for not being NFL ready, and said he hopes he can be a better rookie than his father was.
“I heard his rookie season in the NFL wasn’t good,” Brenden said of Jerry. “I’ve got to go top him.”
