During the offseason, there seemed a real possibility the Kansas City Chiefs would be without Rashee Rice for at least a portion of the season. Indeed, the wide receiver will miss time, but not for the reason we thought: He's injured. And if the Chiefs have their way, they'll double-dip on his absence.
Rice suffered a knee injury in Week 4. Initial worries suggested he could miss the rest of the season, but there's growing optimism that he avoided the worst case. He still ended up on IR, which will cost him at least four weeks of action.
If Rice is going to be unavailable anyways, the feeling in Kansas City seems to be one of opportunism: What if his looming NFL suspension lands at the most convenient time possible?
Now injured, a suspension doesn't sound so bad to Rashee Rice
According to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, Rice will look to "resolve the eight pending felony charges [from his offseason street racing incident] and to serve any suspension this year."
That's a drastic change from the previous plan, which was to delay resolution of his legal situation until next year. Since the league won't act until the courts have had their say, he could avoid a suspension for any portion of the 2024.
Now, a 2024 suspension sounds like a good deal to Rice.
I get it. Rice is trying to make the best of a bad situation. It makes a lot of sense to try to minimize the number of games he might miss. I just hope the NFL doesn't play into his hands.
The purpose of an NFL suspension is punishment for wrongdoing. Rice put his life and the lives of a dozen innocents in danger by recklessly racing down a Texas freeway. Letting him serve his suspension while he's unavailable because of injury makes that punishment meaningless.