A suspension for Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice is imminent after it was announced Thursday that the NFL would hold a hearing for him stemming from his significant traffic violation in Dallas in March, 2024. When the suspension is served, and for how long, remain major questions that Rice and the Chiefs would love to know the answers to.
Fantasy managers also wait for the answers.
Here’s what we know about the Rice case:
- Rice pled guilty to two felony charges and was sentenced to five years of probation and 30 days in jail. He also settled with all victims of the crash.
- However, the NFL holds its players to certain standards as laid out in the Personal Conduct Policy that is a part of every NFL contract. Players who violate the policy are subject to a suspension.
- To determine the suspension length, Rice will have his case heard by Judge Sue L. Robinson. That will happen after the start of the NFL season on Sept. 30. That should mean Rice will begin the season on the Chiefs active roster.
That last part is crucial to the Chiefs — it means Rice will be available to play in Weeks 1-4 against the Chargers in Brazil, home against the Eagles, at the Giants, and home against the Ravens. Two major AFC matchups and a Super Bowl rematch.
But all bets are off after that.
Here are two more facts, this time about Robinson:
- She was the judge who ruled over the Deshaun Watson hearing on June 28, 2022. But Robinson didn’t rule on that case until August 1, 2022, just over a month after the hearing.
- Then after Robinson recommended a six-game suspension for Watson, the NFL appealed the decision. Soon after, the NFL and the NFL Players Association, representing Watson, agreed on an 11-game suspension with a $5 million fine.
If Robinson took the same amount of time to rule on Rice as she did on Watson, then we wouldn’t hear a peep until around Halloween. That’s Week 9, and the Chiefs are on bye in Week 10.
But just because Robinson took a while to rule in one case doesn’t mean it’ll take her as long to rule this time, especially since the evidence in this case is pretty clear and Rice admitted guilt.
Also, if she rules too strongly, the NFL Players Association could appeal. Roger Goodell, or a designated representative, would hear such an appeal. That would push Rice’s suspension even further into the 2025 season — perhaps into December. It’s a longshot the suspension would extend into 2026.
Lastly, it’s worth noting the Chiefs come out of their Week 10 bye with four divisional matchups — two against the Broncos — in their last eight games. I would assume Andy Reid would prefer to have his big receiver available for those matchups.
Rashee Rice suspension possibilities
The best-case scenario would be no suspension at all. That would only happen if Robinson’s ruling took a really long time, followed by a really long appeals process. Don’t even think about that.
The next-best-case scenario would be a suspension of five or fewer games, perhaps something that covers the Chiefs’ games between Weeks 5 and 9.
What’s probably more likely is a six-to-eight-game suspension that removes Rice from the Chiefs through his Week 10 bye, but allows him to return before the end of the regular season. Perhaps such a scenario would mean his last missed game would be at Dallas on Thanksgiving. The NFL might want to avoid the optics of Rice playing in a spotlight game on Thanksgiving in the city his accident occurred in.
Of course, the worst-case scenario would be an extended suspension that keeps Rice off the field for more than eight games, making him irrelevant for the rest of the regular season. That can’t be ruled out, even if it seems unlikely.
And then there’s the timing of it all — there’s no certainty about when Robinson will rule, if there would be an appeal, etc.
It could mean you have Rice for the first four weeks and the last seven weeks. Or the first four and the last four. Or who knows.
Where to take Rashee Rice in Fantasy football drafts
The announcement shouldn’t make anyone excited to draft Rice. If anything, it could make him even trickier to deal with.
You’ve got him for four games to start the season. Cross your fingers you’ll also have him for the Fantasy playoff run.
If you draft him with those reasonable expectations, he’s worth his current average draft position at roughly 70th overall. But line him up in drafts against other receivers who aren’t suspended (and even Jordan Addison, who will miss the first three games of the year), and you’d probably prefer to have a guy who, you know, will actually play for your team every week.
There’s also the likelihood that you’ll be interested in drafting a receiver who you’ll plan to use whenever Rice’s suspension comes. Addison actually fits in well with Rice since Rice will start the season, then Addison comes back in Week 4, and you might have both available in the Fantasy playoffs.
But whether you take Addison or a mid-round rookie or even a Chiefs wideout like Marquise Brown or Jaylen Royals (who might be the real-life replacement for Rice on Kansas City), you’ll have to fill an extra roster spot with another receiver.
I moved Rice down into early Round 7. I know he’s a good player with really good upside, but if I’m going to deal with the headache of rostering him, I don’t want to pay a lot for it.
I didn’t move any other Chiefs players because we just don’t know when any of them will benefit from Rice’s absence. In theory, Xavier Worthy and Travis Kelce will see an uptick in targets when Rice is out, but it’s not worth reaching for either of them without knowing when or how long they’ll have such an advantage. And you can be sure that Brown and Royals will be waiver adds when Rice’s suspension starts, but that doesn’t mean they’re must-draft players, especially if they’re going to soak up a roster spot for at least four weeks.
Let’s hope for an expedited process from Robinson and the NFL. At least we won’t be in limbo for long if that’s the case.