NFL fans have been waiting for over a year to see if the league will discipline Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice for his role in a multi-car crash. Well, they’ll have to wait a bit longer.
On Thursday, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that Rice will have his disciplinary hearing on Sept. 30. That means he’ll most likely be cleared for the first four weeks of the regular season, which includes a Week 1 showdown with the Los Angeles Chargers in Brazil.
Several people, including Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, pointed out how Rice’s situation is a bad look for the NFL.
“Look at it this way. If the league had announced Rice’s suspension on Thursday, no one could have raised a credible question about it. It’s standard practice to resolve these suspensions before Week 1. The fact that the incident happened nearly a year and a half ago would have made it even more appropriate for the situation to be resolved before the Chiefs face the Chargers three weeks from tonight in Brazil,” Florio wrote. “The fact that it wasn’t is odd, because it represents a deviation from standard practice. Which necessarily creates bad optics for the league.”
NFL analyst Warren Sharp pointed out how Rice will be available for Kansas City’s toughest stretch of the season.
“So Rice 100% gets to play the hardest 4-game stretch of the Chiefs season, which features games vs: vs Eagles vs Ravens @ Chargers the Chiefs won’t play another gauntlet like that all season,” Sharp wrote on X. “So whatever games Rice does miss, the Chiefs dodge a huge bullet getting him weeks 1-4.”
“Thank God Rashee Rice didn’t sports gamble… he would’ve been immediately suspended for the entire season. Instead, he just caused a multi-car crash in Dallas and pleaded guilty to two third degree felony charges. But at least he didn’t gamble,” one fan wrote on X.
“We knew. No surprise here, unfortunately. Again, the NFL caters to the network money. Network money comes FIRST. It’s not a conspiracy, it’s a fact that drives decision making,” another fan said.
Some people pointed out that Kansas City doesn’t need Rice to win games.
“Chiefs went 11-1 and onto the Super Bowl without Rice last year Chiefs will win with or without him,” one fan replied.
“So true. Chiefs probably don’t win the AFC last year without Rice,” another fan sarcastically said.
Rice has already said that he learned from his mistakes, but that won’t save him from a suspension.
“All I can do is focus on what I can control right now, and that’s me doing what I do best right here on the field,” Rice said, via ESPN. “I learned just how valuable any opportunity and moment is. This right here, us being able to be on the field and be coached by Coach [Andy] Reid and have such a great quarterback, is honestly a gift, a blessing. I’ve completely changed. Honestly, you have to learn from things like that. I’ve taken advantage of being able to learn from something like that.”
We’ll see if the league brings the hammer down on Rice in late September.
