The Kansas City Chiefs have waited patiently for Rashee Rice to put his legal and medical setbacks behind him to become the player they think he has the potential to be. After another turbulent few months, the Chiefs have finally received a sliver of good news about the WR.

“I’m told for Rashee Rice, he’s going to continue to rehab a knee injury that he had surgically repaired shortly before he went into prison,” Fowler said on ESPN NFL Live on June 20. “I was told that that was an issue because he was worried about maybe getting an infection while he was in prison because he couldn’t rehab like he normally would. He did his best over the last 30 days to do so. He did emerge with no major issues, so he’s gonna rehab that over the next six weeks, get ready for training camp.”

That had to be the goal for Rice anyway, if he wanted to salvage what’s remaining of this crucial season for him. ESPN’s Adam Schefter claimed that the WR would not have undergone the surgery if he knew he had to serve his time. Per the verdict that came through in 2025, about the multi-car collision he’d caused the year before, there were no specific dates between which Rice had to serve his 30-day sentence.

This recent surgery was to alleviate inflammation and clean up debris on the site where he already had a previous procedure, after he injured his knee in 2024. Ideally, he would have been able to participate in some capacity during the OTAs or the minicamp after the rehab for the recent surgery. But his being sent to jail complicated things, clearly. He would not have access to the team’s rehab staff from there.

However, Rice was able to get a court order that let him leave jail and rehab at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas.

This is good news for the Chiefs and Rice. The WR is entering the season after having played just 12 games in the last two years, amid the expectation of being WR1. The team is hoping for him to tap into the potential he showed in his rookie season, when he hauled in 938 yards. Since then, he’s recorded only 859 yards, in a passing attack that has dimmed as well.

However, in his absence, other WRs have impressed coaches in the OTAs and mandatory minicamp. Rashee Rice will now have to face competition from Xavier Worthy, who made the “best plays” during the voluntary and mandatory minicamps, per ESPN. He was also the fastest player on the field for the Chiefs. Wide receivers coach Chad O’Shea is very happy with how Worthy performed.

” His preparation and who he is and what he brings to the table there is outstanding, and then probably his ball skills just jump out at me,” O’Shea said in a presser earlier this month. “I obviously know about the speed, but I was excited at how well he’s caught the ball.”

Rashee Rice clearly has to catch up on a lot. And to make matters worse, an intervention from the league could set him back even more.

NFL punishment remains unanswered despite Rashee Rice’s hopes

Along with the good news, Fowler also had a bad one for Chiefs fans.

“And I’m told that he hopes, because this is a pre-existing case that he was dealing with that has already been suspended for through the league, that he doesn’t face additional punishment from the NFL. But that is yet to be determined.” Fowler said.

For context, Rice had already served a six-game suspension in the 2025 season for the aforementioned multi-car collision case, which had resulted in multiple injuries. What changes things now is him violating his court-ordered probation by smoking weed.

Jacob Camtaker of USA Today notes that the NFL could consider fining him under two separate pathways. One would be the its Substance Abuse policy, which his failed THC test falls under. The second way is their traditional Personal Conduct Violation policy, which includes drug-related offences and other probation violation offences.

As highlighted by Camtaker, this is the NFL’s language in that regard:

“Depending on the nature of the violation and the player’s record, discipline may be a fine, a suspension for a fixed or an indefinite period of time, a combination of the two, or banishment from the league with an opportunity to reapply.”

And since Rice was suspended last year under the same Personal Conduct Violation policy, he would be a repeat offender.

While the hope is there for Rice to be healthy and available to the Chiefs for their Monday Night Season opener, it would perhaps be best if the team have a Plan B ready.