Rashee Rice has been a full participant at the Kansas City Chiefs' offseason program. Now, the second-year wide receiver has spoken publicly for the first time regarding separate off-field incidents, including a high-speed crash that resulted in criminal charges, assuring reporters he's still working to better himself.
"I've learned so much from [the car crash]," Rice said Saturday at a Kansas City youth camp, which he attended alongside fellow Chiefs wide receivers. "All I can do is mature and continue to grow from that. This is a step in a better direction for me.
"Accidents and stuff like that happen," Rice continued, "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, 24, was arrested in April after his involvement in a six-vehicle crash on a Dallas freeway, prior to which police allege the former second-round draft pick was racing other cars at speeds up to 119 miles per hour. He has since been charged with one count of aggravated assault, one count of collision involving serious bodily injury and six counts of collision involving injury. Two alleged victims of the crash are also suing Rice for $10 million in punitive damages stemming from the incident.
Dallas police are also still investigating Rice's alleged role in an apparent May 6 assault at an area nightclub, as ESPN reported. The alleged victim has since downplayed the incident, opting not to file charges and telling police the alleged dispute was a misunderstanding. Rice is still subject to NFL discipline if the league determines he violated the NFL's personal conduct policy.
The Chiefs, meanwhile, have been publicly supportive of the SMU product.
"I think we try to just do whatever we can to teach him how to learn from his mistakes," quarterback Patrick Mahomes said in May. "Obviously that (accident) was a big mistake, but you have to learn from it, make sure it doesn't happen again, and try to do whatever you can to be the best person you can be in society, not only for yourself but for the people around you. And I think he is doing that. But right now, we're just gonna keep trying to do whatever we can to get him on the right path so that he can be a great football player, obviously, but we want him to be a great person, too."
