New Rashee Rice training camp development makes looming Chiefs suspension even worse

After an offseason full of drama -- mainly because of his own doing -- Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice can finally focus on football. Rice should receive news on his suspension before the start of the NFL regular season, and thus the Chiefs have prepared for life without him.

Nonetheless, Rice was a full participant in training camp, earning his teammates' trust back in the process. Veteran wide receiver Justyn Watson saw a different version of Rice in the Chiefs first preseason games. Specifically, the Kansas City star made some adjustments on his routes that can only come from experience. If Rice has his head on straight following a tough offseason, the Chiefs offense will be impossible to stop.

“To see him go from where he was at the end of last year and take a massive step to where he’s at now has been cool to see,” Watson said, per the Kansas City Star. “I think he’s gonna be a great leader for our room this year, on and off the field.”

Can Rashee Rice really develop into a leader for the Chiefs?

Rice faces felony charges from a street-racing incident in March that left several people injured. The NFL recently released a statement on Rice's pending suspension, saying they "have been monitoring developments in the matter" and that "following the conclusion of the legal process, the NFL will review the matter under the Personal Conduct Policy.”

So, that's a whole lot of nothing. With that in mind, Rice and the NFL are on the clock for a suspension, and the Chiefs would prefer to know now just how many weeks they'll be without their best wide receiver.

As to whether Rice can learn from his mistakes and develop into a leader in the locker room, that's on him. In his first comment since the incident, Rice sounded remorseful for his actions.

"I've learned so much from that," Rice said. "All I can do is mature and continue to grow from that. This is a step in a better direction for me."

His next statement suggested he should've stopped right about there ^.

"Accidents and stuff like that happen, but all you can do is move forward and walk around being the same person, try to be positive so that everybody can feel your love and your great energy," Rice said.

The first step in that maturity should be staying under 100 MPH on the highway, just sayin. We've seen plenty of young players -- and people, for that matter -- make mistakes and learn from them. Heck, some even come back better than ever. Hopefully, Rice noticed the flaws in his judgement.

No one is invincible, even a Super Bowl champion.