Rashee Rice’s legal troubles should cost him his job with the Chiefs | Opinion
I’ve said it before. Rashee Rice must go.
The fourth-year pro out of Southern Methodist University is reportedly in legal trouble once again and the Chiefs should cut ties with the talented but mercurial wide receiver.
According to media reports, Rice tested positive for THC and was arrested this week for violating parole. He will spend 30 days in a Dallas County jail, according to an NBC news affiliate in Dallas. While jailed, Rice will miss organized training activities known as OTAs and a mandatory team minicamp from June 9 to 11, according to The Star.
Once Rice is released from custody on June 16, he should find another team to play for. Either now or in the coming days, the Chiefs must part ways with one of their star players.
Playing football in the NFL is a privilege. And Rice has not lived up to the standards of a pro ball player after returning just last season from a six-game suspension for his involvement in a six-car pileup in Dallas that injured four people.
Folks, no matter what you think about Rice’s on-field playmaking ability, a failed drug test while on probation is a serious offense. In the eyes of the law — that infraction cost Rice a month in jail. Here, it should cost him his job.
He can’t stay out of trouble
Don’t get me wrong, it’s always disheartening to see such a talented young player — the Chiefs drafted Rice in the second round of the 2023 NFL Draft for good reason — put his entire career in jeopardy for making foolish and youthful mistakes.
But Rice seemingly can’t stay out of legal trouble, and that’s by his own doing. For that, the organization should release Rice and wish him well on his road to redemption.
In an email, I asked Brad Gee, Chiefs vice president of football communications, if the team planned on releasing or trading Rice after his arrest but hadn’t heard back as of Tuesday afternoon. I will update this column when and if the team replies.
Who knows — maybe one day, Rice could rejoin the team like Kareem Hunt did after he was jettisoned out of town in 2018. Hunt, a running back, was released for lying to team owner Clark Hunt and other executives about shoving and kicking a woman during a confrontation in a Cleveland hotel.
Years later in 2024, Hunt rejoined the team and helped lead the franchise to Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans against Philadelphia. We all love a great comeback story and Hunt’s proved to be one. Maybe Rice can find redemption elsewhere, but as of today, that place is no longer Kansas City.
Can he turn his life around?
I take no joy in casting aside Rice. He’s only 26 and still can turn his personal life and professional career around. But recent history has shown us Rice is incapable of making sound decisions: Have we forgotten the legal issues that led to probation and his arrest this week over a drug violation? I haven’t.
Rice was already on thin ice with some fans here after wrecking his luxury sports car on a Dallas highway in March 2024. Video footage of Rice and a group of friends he was with calmly and casually walking away from the scene of the six-car wreck was a horrible look for Rice and the team.
Days later, when it was reported that marijuana was found in the Lamborghini SUV that Rice wrecked, and that he had left behind a team playbook, I wrote that Rice had no place on the Chiefs’ roster and the team should consider cutting or trading Rice.
I repeat that call here: For the sake of the franchise and its fans, the Chiefs should part ways with the troubled wide receiver.
This story was originally published May 19, 2026 at 4:29 PM.
