The last time we saw Rashee Rice on a football field was in February when he was helping the Kansas City Chiefs win Super Bowl LVIII. A lot has changed since then.
March’s street-racing incident has Rice facing eight felony charges. This had NFL Network’s James Palmer reporting that the Chiefs were expecting Rice to be suspended for “Half a season, at least.”
More recently, Rice finds himself under investigation for an alleged assault of a photographer in a Texas nightclub. Depending on what the investigation uncovers, Rice’s expected NFL suspension under the personal conduct policy could be impacted by his latest incident.
SMU incident impacting NFL’s decision to suspend Rashee Rice?
However, now Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio is suggesting that a previously unreported incident during Rice’s college career at SMU could also factor into the NFL’s decision to suspend the Chiefs receiver.
“Per multiple sources, multiple teams learned during the pre-draft process about an alleged incident involving Rice while he was at SMU. Rice believed former SMU basketball player Kendric Davis was seeing Rice’s girlfriend. Rice and some of his friends, per the specific information gathered by at least one team, went to an SMU basketball game. Rice (or someone with him), per the specific information gathered by at least one team, fired multiple bullets into the empty car belonging to Kendric Davis.”
Mike Florio on Rashee Rice’s SMU career potentially impacting his NFL suspension length
While the encounter was never reported to police, Florio notes that “multiple sources” believe every team (Chiefs included) was aware of Rice’s history at SMU, including the above incident.
The NFL’s personal conduct policy does state that “players with a prior history of misconduct, including misconduct occurring prior to their association with the NFL, will be subject to enhanced and/or expedited discipline.”
If so, Rice’s previously expected 8-9 game suspension could stretch even longer for a Chiefs team seeking to become the first to three-peat as champions in the Super Bowl era.
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