Rice caught 79 passes in his first NFL season for seven touchdowns and nearly 1,000 yards. The promising young player had every reason to think he might be the Chiefs' top receiver option moving forward, giving already legendary QB Patrick Mahomes an exciting new player to look for downfield.
But in the past three months, Rice has gone from an emerging talent with a bright future to a player whose 2024 season is very much in question.
The 24-year-old made the wrong type of headlines in March when he was driving a Lamborghini that was involved in a crash on Central Expressway. Things have only gotten worse since then.
“I think he’s definitely going to be suspended for at least half of the season, but the Chiefs haven't cut him or anything like that,” said 1310 The Ticket’s (and occasionally, the Observer’s) Matt McClearin. “He’s been working out with Patrick Mahomes this offseason and he appears to be in their plans for the long-term future. … I believe he’ll be fine, but he needs to mature in a hurry. I don't think he can make another mistake like this.”
More recently, Dallas police have been investigating Rice for an alleged assault at a local nightclub. But that’s not all of the worrying news to emerge regarding Rice over the past couple of weeks. Here’s a timeline of Rashee Rice’s recent troubles.
March 30 Car Crash
On March 30, at 6:20 p.m., Rice was driving 119 mph when police say he caused a multi-vehicle crash on Central Expressway near University Boulevard, not far from where he played college ball a little more than a year ago. Another speeding vehicle involved in the crash was driven by SMU football player Theodore Knox. According to The Dallas Morning News, a dash cam of one of the several vehicles involved in the accident caught Rice, Knox and some passengers in their cars exiting the vehicles and walking away from the scene. After Dallas police announced Rice was being sought for questioning in connection with the accident, Rice turned himself in several days after the crash. Rice and Knox each face one count of collision involving serious bodily injury, one count of aggravated assault and six counts of collision involving injury.
Texas law states that a single charge of collision involving injury could result in jail time of up to five years if the defendant is found guilty. Two weeks after the crash, two people who say they were injured in the crash filed a lawsuit against Rice for $10 million, citing injuries that “include brain trauma, cuts to the face requiring stitches, bruises, disfigurement and internal bleeding,” according to an ESPN report.
Dallas Nightclub Assault
On May 6 a photographer was assaulted at Lit Kitchen and Lounge on Harwood Street in downtown Dallas. WFAA reported that the Dallas police have identified Rice as the alleged attacker.WFAA obtained a police report that laid out the night’s timeline, which included the photographer leaving the club around 1:30 a.m. before quickly returning after Rice sent him a message asking him to come back to take some pictures.
“When the photographer got back to the club, he found the suspect,” WFAA reported. “The suspect asked him to look at his phone, and as the photographer was looking down at the phone, the suspect punched the photographer on the side of the face, the police report states.”
On May 10, however, the nightclub’s owner said that he has security video that refutes the photographer’s claims. Speaking to CBS 11, Lit Kitchen and Lounge owner Reza Dibaje says the accuser is on film leaving his club on the night in question.
"It doesn't look like a guy that got beat somewhere," Dibaje told CBS 11.
Alleged Shooting Incident at SMU:
Then, on May 10, NBC’s Pro Football Talk reported troubling allegations against Rice that date back to his college days. From reporter Mike Florio:
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.
The report states that behind the scenes, every NFL team had this information prior to the 2023 draft when the Chiefs took Rice in the second round with pick 55, but somehow the news never became public. Also, according to the report, the shooting incident was never reported to local authorities by anyone at SMU.
Florio writes that the SMU incident could become relevant because the NFL considers prior behavioral issues when determining punishments for new offenses against the league’s conduct policy.
