Rashee Rice
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Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice.
As the clock ticks toward the announcement of the NFL’s weekly fines, Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice might want to get his checkbook warmed up.
Rice, despite his protests to the contrary, is likely facing a fine after he was called for unsportsmanlike conduct for tossing the ball off Washington Commanders safety Quan Martin’s helmet in a 28-7 win by the Chiefs in Week 8.
The original angle showed Rice looking like he was trying to provoke/insult Martin. Another angle showed Rice may have been trying to toss the ball to a referee.
“Chiefs WRRashee Rice confirmed he was throwing the ball to the ref and didn’t intentionally throw the ball at Commanders SQuan Martin‘s helmet,” NFL reporter Charles Goodman wrote on his official X account. “Will the NFL agree?”
Rice arguing he meant to throw the ball and accidentally hit Martin in the dome seems akin to when you were a little kid and “accidentally” smacked your younger sibling in the side of the head.
“Yeah, I was trying to throw the ball to the ref,” Rice said, via AtoZ Sports. “He put his hands out for the ball. But you know, it’s OK. I mean, we won the game. Next play, and that’s all it could be.”
Given Rice’s history, it’s hard to see him getting the benefit of the doubt.
Rice’s Off Field Issues Have Cost Him Millions
Rice was a second round pick by the Chiefs out of SMU in the 2023 NFL draft and started his career on an absolute heater. He won the Super Bowl as a rookie and set an NFL rookie playoff record with 26 receptions that year.
One month after the Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII, Rice crashed a rented Lamborghini SUV on a Dallas expressway as he was racing against friends in another rented vehicle.
Rice’s crash caused a pileup on the expressway that led to 2 people being taken to the hospital.Video showed he and his friends flee the scene on foot before police arrived.
Rice was charged with one count of aggravated assault, one count of collision involving serious bodily injury, and six counts of collision involving injuries. He eventually pled guilty to 2 third degree felonies in July 2025 and was sentenced to 30 days in jail and 5 years probation as well as being ordered to pay approximately $115,000 in medical expenses. He’s agreed to pay one of the victims $1 million plus legal expenses and another victim is suing him for $1 million in damages.
After Rice’s plea, the NFL suspended him for the first 6 games of the 2025 regular season, costing him approximately $421,00 in salary.
If Rice agrees to pay the second victim of the crash the same amount he paid the first, and we estimate his legal fees at around $125,000, we can also estimate he paid off a photographer he allegedly punched at a nightclub in May 2024 not to press charges — let’s call that another $100,000.
By that math, Rice’s off field issues have already cost him approximately $2.75 million to this point. Considering he’s playing on a 4-year, $6.49 million rookie contract, of which he will have made $4.45 million after 2025, we can guess that once taxes and agent fees are taken out, Rice will already be roughly $1 million in debt after 3 NFL seasons.
He’s scheduled to make approximately $1.635 million in salary in 2026.