Rice speaks on personal growth after practice on Tuesday
By Jacob Meikel
Second-year wide receiver Rashee Rice spoke to the media for the first time in nearly two months on Tuesday, with legal troubles still looming for the former SMU star.
The former second-round pick still faces multiple charges for his involvement in a multi-vehicle crash in Dallas, Texas. The NFL has not issued a suspension for Rice as the league will likely wait until the legal process plays out to decide whether the receiver will miss games. Rice’s trial in Dallas will begin on Dec. 9. The last time the SMU product met with the media since the incident in late March, was at a football camp in early June. Rice said during the camp that all he wanted to do was mature and to “continue to grow.” Rice met with the media after training camp on Tuesday essentially echoing a similar sentiment without offering much information on what his future as a professional holds.
“Just continue to surround myself with people that I want to be like and just continue to surround myself with people that are going to allow me to grow,” Rice said on Tuesday
Rice has been present for every day of training camp since veteran players arrived in late July. His presence has been felt in individual and team drills throughout camp, as he remains a top target for quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the offense. Mahomes said about Rice’s situation in May “We’re trying to do whatever we can to help him learn from his mistakes.” Rice was asked about the support of his star quarterback on Tuesday feeling confident that Mahomes has his support.
“He’s been very important,” Rice said. “He’s there for me whenever I need him on or off the field. He’s only a call away, and I know he’s always going to pick up my call, so I got him.”
The Chiefs add to the receiver room in the offseason by finding players to strengthen the core that already had Rice, who led the Chiefs receivers in yards with 938 yards as a rookie in 2023. The team added speedsters Marquise Brown in the offseason, as well as rookie Xavier Worthy in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft out of Texas. The trio combined to run for an average of 4.33 in their fastest 40-yard dash times when all of them were coming out of college. Brown ran a 4.27 at Oklahoma Pro Day in 2019, Rice ran a 4.51 at the NFL Scouting Combine in 2023 and Worthy recently broke the combine’s 40-yard dash record with an official 4.21.
“We got football speed and we got real speed, but we all got speed,” Rice said.
The Chiefs will have one more day of training camp this week before a lengthy four-day break while the team preps and travels to Jacksonville this weekend for its first preseason game against the Jaguars on Saturday.
