I’m officially done with Rashee Rice. And if the Kansas City Chiefs have any common sense, they should be, too.
Rice is going to prison after he tested positive for marijuana, a violation of his probation set following his involvement in a high-speed crash in Texas in 2024 that left multiple people injured. The 26-year-old wide receiver will spend the next 30 days in jail and will miss Kansas City’s voluntary OTAs and mandatory minicamp before he is released on June 16.
It’s the latest transgression in what has been a turbulent 28 months for Rice. Frankly, it’s hard to see this as anything other than a slap in the face to a Chiefs team that gave Rice a second chance, and I think it should bring his time in Kansas City to an end—maybe not immediately, but in the very near future.
Rice has one year left on his rookie contract before he becomes an unrestricted free agent, and in April he told an Instagram livestream that he wanted Jaxon Smith-Njigba-level money ($168 million). It would be insane for Kansas City to offer him anything near that now, and I think it would be ridiculous for the Chiefs to even offer Rice any contract extension at all.
Rice pleaded guilty to two third-degree felony charges after the crash, crimes that would have been fair grounds for the Chiefs to cut him there and then, in my book. But Kansas City gave him a second chance, a chance that he has totally wasted.
Rice’s actions prove the Chiefs can’t rely on him at all—not to behave by the rules, not to correct his behavior, and now not to be on the football field either. And if the Chiefs can’t rely on him, then there is no way they should give him any contract extension, let alone a market-leading one.
Rice has done nothing to show he deserves the trust that the Chiefs gave him after the crash. He had an opportunity to prove he’s changed as a person, but less than 12 months into a five-year probation, he broke the rules that were set in front of him. It’s not good enough.
The fact that Rice will miss OTAs and minicamp isn’t a big deal, since it turns out he would have missed both anyway after undergoing knee surgery this month with a two-month recovery time. But it’s the principle that matters here.
Rice couldn’t follow the rules set for him by a court of law when he knew the punishment for breaking them would be jail time, a sentence that not only severely impacts him but also the football team he plays for. It’s worse than not good enough; it’s diabolical.
If the Chiefs want to let Rice play this season, assuming he can play if he isn’t handed another suspension by the NFL, then fine. But after this season, I’m done with him. The Chiefs can’t trust him. It’s as simple as that.
The Chiefs gave Rice a second chance and he wasted it. They should not give him a third.
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