Rashee Rice needs to stop running away from his problems

Earlier this week, I watched a video of Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice walking free from a jail in Texas.

The footage shows Rice standing at a counter, having just been released from jail. Rice spent 30 days behind bars for violating the parole conditions stemming from two felony convictions for his involvement in a high-speed crash on a Dallas freeway in March 2024.

With the media waiting, Rice backpedalled towards the exit before turning and running out the door, down a side street, and to a car, smiling as he passed the gathered cameras.

It was a ridiculous, almost comical 16 seconds, but Rice's departure from jail showed something serious, too: it showed he hasn't learned a darn thing.

Rice had an opportunity to take some semblance of responsibility for his actions that forced him to miss Kansas City's mandatory minicamp and rehab from knee surgery while behind bars. Instead, he literally ran away from his problems again.

Rice ran away from accountability when he fled the crash scene before police arrived, and he ran away from accountability when he fled from reporters after being released from jail.

He was smiling as he ran past the media, and his backpedalling seemed like a deliberate move to avoid being on camera. When asked if he had anything to say to his fans, Rice didn't respond. It wasn't a good look.

I wasn't expecting him to answer questions or hold an impromptu media conference, but I thought he might say something acknowledging his mistake. Maybe he was advised not to talk to the media, but the least he could have done was face up to the situation he created and not literally run away.

Rice will need to face questions about his actions eventually, and if he doesn't, he'll be unfairly shifting that burden onto other people to answer in his place. It will be his teammates and coaches taking the heat to defend him rather than Rice doing it himself, which is hardly honorable.

It's been disappointing to see no sign of accountability, responsibility, or remorse from Rice for actions that first put people's lives in danger and have now impacted his job and his team's chances of winning.

Maybe it isn't surprising from a player who has a reputation for dodging the media and avoiding post-game questions after a tough performance or a Kansas City loss, but I would have thought that Rice would have learned something after being handed two felony convictions—that he really would have learned something after going to jail.

So far, it looks like he hasn't.

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