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Kansas City Chiefs
The Chiefs can’t trust Rashee Rice. The test that Rice failed wasn’t a drug test. It was an intelligence test. Rice knew the tests were coming. He knew what was on the line. Now he must deal with the fallout.
This isn’t, to be clear, about the marijuana he tested positive for. It’s about the reputation he had coming out of college at SMU, and the 2025 hit-and-run that landed him the 30-day sentence the positive drug test triggered in the first place.
It’s about him allegedly punching a photographer less than two months later, and how he has slipped up again—regardless of how it went down or what it was for.
He knew he had to walk the straight and narrow, yet somehow, here we are again.
It’s a shame, too, because internally, the Chiefs view Rice as capable of being a top-five or top-10 receiver. Last year, a six-game suspension and concussion symptoms that ended his season prematurely limited the budding star to eight games. In those contests, he had 53 catches for 571 yards and five touchdowns. If you project those numbers out to 17 games, it’s 113 catches for 1,213 yards and 11 touchdowns.
If he gets there, and he cleans up his act off the field, we’re probably talking about the Chiefs paying Rice somewhere around $30 million per year.
Instead, Kansas City’s best bet is probably to see where things go this year and, if it works out, franchise-tag him next year to get another look at whether he truly has turned the corner. And maybe look for some veteran insurance at receiver so they’re ready for the chance of a suspension (that wouldn’t be about the weed, either, but violating his probation). Maybe that’s Stefon Diggs. Maybe it’s circling back on A.J. Brown.
Regardless, it’s fine for the Chiefs to hope for Rice to make it back, and obviously they do.
They just can’t count on Rice anymore.
Most underappreciated NFL players: Top candidate for each AFC team in 2026 season | NFL.com
Kansas City Chiefs Kingsley Suamataia, LG
This man received too much hate in Year 1 and too little love in Year 2. The 63rd overall pick in 2024, Suamataia was immediately tasked with guarding Patrick Mahomes’ blind side as 21-year-old rookie. He was in over his head, lasting just two games as Kansas City’s starting left tackle before hitting the bench and becoming a whipping boy for all of the team’s protection problems. But after the Chiefs addressed OT last offseason in free agency and the draft, Suamataia permanently moved over a spot and won the starting job at left guard. He looked much better inside, starting all 17 games to provide some positive vibrations in the franchise’s worst year of the Andy Reid era. Shoot, the guy even finished last season with a bodacious hurdle attempt, putting a fitting cap on a sophomore campaign that saw him take a major leap forward.
This is the Dallas facility where Chiefs’ Rashee Rice is serving jail time | Kansas City Star
Before the probation violation, Rice had been allowed to choose when he would serve the jail sentence. Now he’s serving that time and will miss the Chiefs’ organized team activities (OTAs) and June’s mandatory minicamp.
The four jail facilities in Dallas County hold slightly more than 7,100 people. Records show Rice is serving his sentence at the North Tower Jail at the Lew Sterrett Justice Center.
That building opened in 1993 and the Dallas County website notes the “facility holds 3,292 maximum security inmates with 188 single cells, as well as 3 floors of medical space.”
Rice had right-knee surgery earlier this month to “remove loose debris that was causing inflammation,” ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported. It’s not known whether Rice is able to take advantage of those three floors of medical space.
Kansas City Chiefs OTAs Preview | A to Z Sports
Who will fill Leo Chenal’s shoes on the Chiefs’ defense in 2026?
The Chiefs did not address the loss of SAM LB Leo Chenal in the 2026 NFL Draft, but that’s because the team feels they’ve got his replacement on the roster. Ahead of the draft, Nick Bolton hinted that 2025 UDFA LB Cooper McDonald could be a natural replacement for Chenal. McDonald, of course, filled in for Chenal when he was placed on injured reserve late in the season.
“Cooper McDonald did a great job when Leo couldn’t play the last (two games) of the season,” Bolton said. “Coming in and playing and filling that void for us. I think a lot of young guys will come in and play a lot. It’s our job, as vets and coaches as well, to get them to the place they need to be. But, I’m excited for the guys we’ve got in the building, for sure.”
McDonald will certainly get first crack at it, but there are some young and hungry players in Kam Arnold and Wesley Bissainthe who could also push for playing time behind McDonald.
The report alleged that organized theft groups from South America have burglarized the homes of at least nine professional athletes between September and November 2024, and were completed via surveillance using publicly available information and social media activity to figure out when the players would be out of their homes. Several of the burglaries occurred when stars were out of town for away games, like Kelce who was robbed in October 2024 as the Chiefs took on the New Orleans Saints, with teammate Patrick Mahomes getting hit just 48 hours earlier, and Joe Burrow, who was playing in Dallas when his Cincinnati home was burglarized in December 2024.
“These preparation tactics enable theft groups to conduct burglaries in a short amount of time. Organized theft groups bypass alarm systems, use Wi-Fi jammers to block Wi-Fi connections and disable devices, cover security cameras and obfuscate their identities,” the report stated.
Around the NFL
Packers’ Jacobs arrested, faces several domestic violence charges | ESPN
Green Bay Packers star running back Josh Jacobs was arrested Tuesday and booked on several domestic violence charges, according to the Hobart-Lawrence (Wisconsin) Police Department.
Jacobs, 28, was booked on charges of battery (domestic abuse, criminal damage to property), domestic abuse, disorderly conduct (domestic abuse, strangulation and suffocation) and intimidation of a victim.
According to Brown County jail records, the strangulation and suffocation charge is a felony, and the other four charges are misdemeanors. According to the records, Jacobs was being held without bond.
The Hobart-Lawrence PD was dispatched to the alleged disturbance involving Jacobs on Saturday.
Chargers, S Derwin James agree to three-year, $75.6 million contract extension | NFL.com
General manager Joe Hortiz tabbed it a high priority that Derwin James remains a member of the Los Angeles Chargers for life.
The Chargers and James took a colossal step forward in making that happen.
James and Los Angeles agreed to terms on a three-year, $75.6 million extension with $57.1 million guaranteed, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported Tuesday. The Chargers subsequently announced a multi-year extension with James.
With an average annual salary of $25.2 million in his new years, James supplants the Baltimore Ravens’ Kyle Hamilton ($25.1 million per year) as the league’s highest-paid safety per APY.
Collins was entering the final year of a three-year, $72 million deal with the team that included an option for 2027. He was set to earn $20 million this fall and about $21.2 million next season, both of which were significantly below market value.
He’ll now earn $29 million this season and about $29.2 million during the 2027 campaign, which makes him the 11th-highest paid wide receiver in the league. By comparison, Seattle Seahawks star Jaxson Smith-Njigba makes more than $42 million per season. Ja’Maar Chase is the only other wide receiver in the league making more than $40 million per season.
In case you missed it on Arrowhead Pride
Chiefs drafted No. 1 player in The Athletic’s 2025 preseason big board
The Chiefs’ first-round defensive lineman was once considered the top-ranked player in the class by one of the draft industry’s most insightful analysts, and Brugler was not the only source ranking him atop their preseason boards.
Woods was not joined by cornerback Mansoor Delane on the top-50 list; Delane had yet to play for LSU after three seasons at Virginia Tech.
However, Kansas City’s second-round pick made an appearance in a fitting range of Brugler’s board.
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