Rice was sentenced to 30 days of jail time and five years of probation after leaving the scene of an accident in Dallas, Texas, in 2024.
DALLAS — The NFL is finalizing an agreement for Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice to be suspended for six games after his involvement in a multi-car crash in 2024, according to NFL Network Insider Tom Peliserro.
Rice pleaded guilty in July to two third-degree felony charges of collision involving serious bodily injury and racing on a highway causing bodily injury. As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors said, Rice was sentenced to five years of deferred probation and 30 days in jail, along with paying victims’ out-of-pocket medical expenses totaling about $115,000. He separately agreed to settle a civil case for $1,086,000, which included prejudgment interest and attorneys’ fees.
Rice was set to have a disciplinary hearing with the NFL on Sept. 30 in New York, a source told the Associated Press, but this agreement circumvents that hearing. This suspension comes weeks after Pelissero reported that the league initially proposed a double-digit game suspension. The NFL Players Association, along with Rice’s attorney and agent, lobbied for a much shorter suspension, arguing that there is no precedent for suspending a player half the season in a similar case, according to Pelissero.
Rice won’t be eligible to play until the Chiefs’ Week 7 matchup against the Las Vegas Raiders, Pelissero said.
On the first day of training camp, Rice said he had “completely changed” and “you have to learn from things like that.”
Officials said Rice was speeding in a Lamborghini on the left shoulder of the U.S. 75 when the vehicle was hit by a Chevrolet Corvette that former SMU cornerback Theodore “Teddy” Knox was driving. Knox had attempted to move from the far-left lane into the shoulder that Rice’s car occupied, the report said. The crash then caused Rice’s car to hit a center median wall and begin a “counterclockwise rotation,” which then started the six-car crash, investigators previously said.
Police said both Rice’s Lamborghini and Knox’s Corvette were traveling over 115 miles per hour just before the crash.
Rice turned himself in to police shortly after the crash and admitted to driving the Lamborghini.
Both Rice and Knox faced eight felony charges in connection to the crash – six counts of collision involving bodily injury, one count of collision involving serious bodily injury, and one count of aggravated assault, according to the warrant. SMU suspended Knox from the football team after the charges were filed against him.
Rice, who’s from North Richland Hills, was a star receiver at SMU for four seasons before being selected by the Kansas City Chiefs in the second round with the No. 55 overall pick of the 2023 NFL Draft. Rice caught 79 catches for 938 yards and seven touchdowns in his rookie season, then followed with 24 catches for 288 yards and two touchdowns in 2024 before he suffered a season-ending knee injury.