On 17 July, two different NFL players found themselves in two different courtrooms to enter guilty pleas for transgressions they had committed during the 2024 offseason.
In California, Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Jordan Addison reached a plea deal stemming from his incident near LAX in July of 2024 where he was found intoxicated, asleep behind the wheel of his vehicle blocking a lane of traffic. He agreed to plead guilty to two misdemeanor charges, the result of which was 12 months probation,
a $390 fine, and having to take some online courses.
On 5 August, the NFL informed the Vikings that Addison would be suspended for the first three games of the 2025 NFL regular season, meaning that he will miss a Monday Night Football matchup against the Chicago Bears, a Sunday Night Football matchup against the Atlanta Falcons, and what should be a high-profile game at U.S. Bank Stadium against the Cincinnati Bengals.
In Texas. . .again, also on 17 July. . .Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice was also pleading guilty. In March of 2024, Rice was racing another driver on the North Central Expressway in Dallas at speeds approaching 120 miles/hour, causing a multi-car accident where multiple people were injured. Rice and the person he was racing then fled the scene of the accident and were arrested later on. Rice agreed to plead guilty to two felonies and was sentenced to 30 days in jail and five years probation.
Rice’s disciplinary hearing is on 30 September, which means that he will be available for the first four games of Kansas City’s season. That stretch includes a game against the Los Angeles Chargers in Brazil, a Super Bowl rematch with the Philadelphia Eagles, a Sunday Night Football game against the New York Giants, and another high-profile matchup against the Baltimore Ravens.
Now, perhaps my tinfoil hat is strapped on a little tighter than it should be, but it would appear that there’s a slight difference in the way these two cases are being handled by the NFL.
There is no reason for Rice to be available to the Chiefs for the first four weeks of the season. There is no reason for the league to not have already passed down some sort of discipline for Rice already. And if the National Football League was looking to quiet the perception that some teams in the league get treated differently than other teams, then this is definitely the wrong way to go about it.
Yes, Rice’s case might be more complex because of everything that’s involved and whatever else. Fine. Whatever. If you want to look at past precedent when it comes to dealing with player discipline when things are uncertain, we need look no further than another example involving the Vikings.
Following the 2014 regular season opener, Adrian Peterson faced accusations of child abuse stemming from an incident involving one of his children. The team deactivated Peterson for their Week 2 game and planned on reinstating him for Week 3. However, at that point the league stepped in and ordered Peterson to be placed on the Commissioner’s Exempt list, meaning that Peterson needed to stay away from all of the team’s activities.
A few weeks later, Peterson pled “not guilty” to charges of child abuse, and nearly a month after that he pled “no contest” to misdemeanor reckless assault. During that time, he remained on the Commissioner’s Exempt list and away from the team. Peterson applied for reinstatement following his plea deal, but got denied. The NFLPA then filed a grievance to have Peterson removed from the Commissioner’s Exempt list, and before the grievance was decided the NFL suspended Peterson for the remainder of the 2014 season at a minimum. Peterson appealed the suspension, but his appeal was denied and Peterson wound up not being officially reinstated until April of 2015.
The NFL should have had things figured out with Rashee Rice’s discipline prior to now. They obviously had things figured out for Jordan Addison almost immediately and the effect on the Vikings will be immediate as well. At a minimum, Rashee Rice should probably be on the Commissioner’s Exempt list like Peterson was. And, again, you can call me a conspiracy theorist if you wish, but the NFL could have had Rice’s discipline figured out right away. . .had they wanted to.
But they didn’t want to. Why? Maybe there’s a reason, but whatever reason they might have certainly isn’t a good one.
Rice is certainly going to receive a multi-game suspension for his incident and should wind up with a longer suspension than what Jordan Addison is getting. . .although, at this point, it wouldn’t be even a mild surprise if it wasn’t longer. But someone smarter than myself is going to have to explain to me why, when the league was obviously loaded up and ready to go with Addison’s discipline within about two weeks of his plea deal that they’re now going to screw around for two and a half months when it comes to announcing discipline for Rice.
I guess it’s just different somehow.
Perhaps someday the Minnesota Vikings will reach lofty enough heights that the NFL will take their schedule into account before handing out discipline to their players.
Or, perhaps, the NFL will take the equally radical step of treating all 32 of their teams the same when it comes to that sort of thing.
