You'll probably read a lot of updates on Kansas City Chiefs WR Rashee Rice over the next two days, but most of them don't actually matter when it comes to a potential suspension from the NFL.
Local Dallas media reported on Wednesday evening that a trial date had been set for Rice in June of 2025, stemming from his car crash in Texas earlier this year. What they neglected to mention in all of their headlines is that this, like the previously announced December 2024 trial date, is a civil trial and not a criminal trial. Why is that distinction important? Because the NFL doesn't care about civil proceedings. They wait until any police investigation and criminal proceedings have taken place before they decide on things like suspensions.
Additionally, we had some news regarding the infamous Commissioner's Exempt list this week. On Thursday, two high-ranking NFL officials confirmed during a conference call that Rice was unlikely to be placed on the Commissioner's Exempt List at the onset of the season.
During training camp, Andy Reid and Clark Hunt both indicated that there wasn't much news to share regarding a potential suspension for Rice. Hunt even indicated that the NFL hadn't begun their investigation yet.
“There’s nothing going on with the league at this point. Their standard protocol is to let the legal process play out, and then they’ll begin their investigation at that point. I can’t really project when we’ll have those conversations (about a suspension).” - Chiefs CEO and Chairman Clark Hunt on July 22.
Two weeks ago, NBC Sports reported the NFL has yet to interview or meet with Rice, which would track with everything we've learned to this point. In early July, NFL insiders were even reporting that it's possible a suspension would not happen until 2025 . That still seems to be the case even in light of all the new information.
Here are the updates you should be looking for on Chiefs WR Rashee Rice
Fans need to be on the lookout for any sort of movement regarding Rashee Rice's criminal case. Until that happens, the NFL will not begin its investigation or issue a suspension of Rice.
“First, we allow the legal process to move through,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said back in April. “We obviously are following it closely and as soon as they are done with the process we will be engaged and be prepared to look at all of that under our personal conduct policy.”
Right now, there is no public record where Rice has been formally charged in his criminal case. The arresting charges, where you'll often hear Rice was charged with eight felonies, are not always the same charges that a district attorney will file and bring against someone in a criminal case.
Additionally, there is no date set for a criminal trial. When you hear a report of that date being set, that's when we could begin to see some tangible movement in the NFL's investigation into violations of the league's personal conduct policy.
And before you cry wolf about some sort of favoritism, know that the league simply does not take any sort of action until a criminal case has concluded. Take Saints RB Alvin Kamara's assault case for example. The incident happened in February 2022 and Kamara was not suspended until August 2023, after he accepted a plea deal in July of 2023.
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