Kansas City Chiefs
The Chiefs can’t trust Rashee Rice. The test that Rice failed wasn’t a drug test. It was an intelligence test. Rice knew the tests were coming. He knew what was on the line. Now he must deal with the fallout.
This isn’t, to be clear, about the marijuana he tested positive for. It’s about the reputation he had coming out of college at SMU, and the 2025 hit-and-run that landed him the 30-day sentence the positive drug test triggered in the first place. It’s about him allegedly punching a photographer less than two months later, and how he has slipped up again—regardless of how it went down or what it was for.
He knew he had to walk the straight and narrow, yet somehow, here we are again.
It’s a shame, too, because internally, the Chiefs view Rice as capable of being a top-five or top-10 receiver. Last year, a six-game suspension and concussion symptoms that ended his season prematurely limited the budding star to eight games. In those contests, he had 53 catches for 571 yards and five touchdowns. If you project those numbers out to 17 games, it’s 113 catches for 1,213 yards and 11 touchdowns.
If he gets there, and he cleans up his act off the field, we’re probably talking about the Chiefs paying Rice somewhere around $30 million per year.
Instead, Kansas City’s best bet is probably to see where things go this year and, if it works out, franchise-tag him next year to get another look at whether he truly has turned the corner. And maybe look for some veteran insurance at receiver so they’re ready for the chance of a suspension (that wouldn’t be about the weed, either, but violating his probation). Maybe that’s Stefon Diggs. Maybe it’s circling back on A.J. Brown.
Regardless, it’s fine for the Chiefs to hope for Rice to make it back, and obviously they do.
They just can’t count on Rice anymore.
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