There is an aura of uncertainty surrounding Rashee Rice as the Kansas City Chiefs near the start of the 2025 season. The NFL could levy a suspension against the third-year wide receiver for his role in a 2024 multi-car crash, which would force him to miss time for the second straight season after he sat 12 games last year due to a knee injury. Rice, who pleaded guilty to a pair of felony charges for his hit-and-run, said he learned important lessons from the incident.
A Dallas County, Texas judge sentenced Rice last month to 30 days of jail time and five years probation following his guilty plea. That jail time can be served at any point during his probation period, thus potentially not impacting his availability this season or for future seasons. It is instead the possible suspension that would keep him off the field for an unknown amount of time in 2025.
“It’s still in the works,” Rice said of the threat of suspension. “My legal team is handling that. 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.”
The high-speed incident occurred along the North Central Expressway in Dallas. The chain-reaction collision damaged five vehicles, left two people hospitalized and injured two others. Rice and four other men fled the scene on foot without checking on the occupants of the other vehicles.
Rice said in a statement last month that he had “a lot of sleepless nights” in which he reflected on his actions and the damage caused.
“I completely changed,” Rice said at Saturday’s training camp media availability. “You have to learn from things like that. So I’ve learned, and I’ve taken advantage of being able to learn from something like that.”
While the crash occurred prior to the 2024 season, Rice faced no punishment from the league or team during his second professional campaign. The SMU product and 2023 second-round pick caught 24 passes for 288 yards and two touchdowns across four games before he suffered his season-ending injury. That added to the 79 grabs, 938 yards and seven scores from his terrific rookie year.
Rice’s biggest takeaway from the incident was to not take for granted the opportunity he has in the NFL.
“Just how valuable any opportunity is and any moment is,” Rice said. “This right here, us being able to be on the field and be able to be coached by Coach Reid and have such a great quarterback, it’s honestly a gift. It’s a blessing.”
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