Chiefs wide receiver hit with six-game suspension

Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs will be without their top wide receiver for the first six games of the 2025 season. The NFL announced a six-game suspension for Rashee Rice for violating the league’s personal conduct policy.

Rice was involved in a March 2024 multi-vehicle crash in Dallas. The wide receiver pleaded guilty to two counts of third-degree collision causing serious injury and racing on a highway and was sentenced to 30 days in jail. The Chiefs player can still decide when he will serve his sentence.

Neither the NFL nor the Players Association could find a compromise on Rice’s suspension, and it was stipulated that everything would be decided by September 30, the date on which a hearing was scheduled. The league wanted a suspension of 10 or more games, but the association felt it was an excessive punishment.

Rice is a two-year veteran who has played in 20 games during that span. The SMU graduate was drafted in the second round of the 2023 draft and has since accrued 1,226 yards after catching 103 of 131 passes thrown his way for nine touchdowns.

Rice’s absence means Mahomes will have to rely even more on tight end Travis Kelce. The other wide receivers available to start the season are Hollywood Brown, Xavier Worthy, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Tyquan Thornton, Jason Brownlee, Nikko Remigio and Jalen Royals.

Which games will Rashee Rice miss due to his suspension?

Rice’s suspension means he’ll be back to face the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 7. During his absence, the Chiefs will travel to Brazil to face the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 1. Super Bowl LIX will get a rerun when the Philadelphia Eagles visit Arrowhead Stadium in Week 2.

Rice will not face either the Giants in New York in Week 3 or the Baltimore Ravens in Kansas City in Week 4. He also will not make the trip to Jacksonville to face the Jaguars in Week 5, and the last game he will miss is when the Chiefs host the Detroit Lions.

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