Kansas City Chiefs receiver Rashee Rice may not face a suspension from the NFL now, but he has a new trial soon.
Kansas City Chiefs receiver Rashee Rice got some good news yesterday when the NFL closed out its investigation of Rice for possible violation of the league’s Personal Conduct Policy yesterday due to domestic abuse allegations of domestic violence and a related lawsuit, which means that Rice won’t be facing another suspension right now.
But Rice faces another trial for the street racing incident back in March 24 of 2024, and trial will start on June 9, according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. Florio also raised some interesting ramifications he might face from that trial, based on his background as an attorney before he started his well-regarded football site.
According to Florio, the driver of the other car in the incident, Theodore Knox, recently had a default judgment in excess of $2.8 million entered against him. A default judgment happens either when the defendant doesn’t respond to a lawsuit, or as punishment for failure to cooperate with the litigation.
Florio didn’t provide more information on Knox, but he did mention that Rice make “NFL money.” Rice is eligible for a second contract, and that’s typically the one where most players cash in and get paid, especially the ones who play the skill positions. That makes Rice a target, especially since he’s going to be in the news with training camp coming up.
A couple of other questions are worth considering here. It would have been intriguing to have Florio provide more information on how long this kind of lawsuit trial is likely to last, along with whether and when Rice will have to be present at the trial.
He also didn’t provide any speculation about whether Rice will have to testify, or whether his attorney(s) will be trying to work out another settlement. Rice is undoubtedly racking up some serious legal bills due to his situation, and that seems like ti would almost certainly be a factor for him.
Finally, there’s the question of just how far the Chiefs are willing to go in their support of Rice. They’ve already tacitly supported him on several occasions, the latest happening when coach Andy Reid failed to mention Rice’s off-the-field issues even in passing during the spring meetings this week.
Rice needed to come into this season clean so he could focus on football and curing the drops that hurt the Chiefs last year, but so far he seems unable to do that.