The Good Friday inconvenient news dump from the NFL regarding Chiefs receiver Rashee Rice has dusted off an old topic.
As noted at the tail end of the item from Nate Taylor of ESPN regarding the league’s decision to clear Rice from potential scrutiny under the Personal Conduct Policy despite a pending civil lawsuit accusing him of domestic violence, a lawsuit against Rice arising from the March 2024 street racing incident is due to go to trial on June 9.
The driver of the other car, Theodore Knox, recently had a default judgment in excess of $2.8 million entered against him. A default judgment happens either when the defendant never responds to the lawsuit or as punishment for failure to cooperate with the litigation.
Unlike Knox, Rice makes NFL money. Rice is eligible for a second contract. He becomes an obvious target for compensation as to the injuries suffered in the crash sparked by Rice and Knox racing on a Dallas highway.
Here’s a Good Friday afternoon news dump that counts as good news for the Chiefs and receiver Rashee Rice.
Via Adam Schefter of ESPN, the league concluded today that Rice “has not engaged in conduct that violates the personal conduct policy” regarding allegations of domestic violence made by his former girlfriend.
Said Rice’s attorney, Sean Lindsey: “Mr. Rice wants to thank the NFL for their thorough investigation, and looks forward to the start of the 2026-27 NFL season.”
The investigation opened in January, when social-media allegations surfaced regarding Rice. In February, Rice was sued by the alleged victim.
The lawsuit remains. If Rice ultimately loses, that could prompt the NFL to take another look at the situation. For now, though, the league has decided there’s no basis for imposing discipline for Rice.
And the stakes were high for him. After missing six games in 2025 due to a Personal Conduct Policy violation resulting from a street racing incident that happened just over two years ago, Rice would have been subject to enhanced penalties as a repeat offender.
Arvell Reese may not make it past the second overall pick in the draft later this month, but other teams at the top of the draft order will be ready if he does slip past the Jets.
NFL Media reports that Reese has visited with four of the next seven teams on the draft board, including the three teams slated to pick directly after the Jets at No. 2. The edge rusher has spent time with the Cardinals, Titans, and Giants as well as the Chiefs. Kansas City has the ninth overall pick.
Per the report, Reese has also met with the Cowboys, who have the No. 12 pick.
It seems unlikely that Reese will be available if Dallas stays put, but the Cowboys do have a pair of first-round picks this year — the Chiefs do as well — so they could try to make a jump up the board if they are convinced Reese is their guy.
Texas Tech edge rusher David Bailey is one of the top prospects in the 2026 draft, a likely top-10 pick.
He spent the week visiting with the Cowboys and the Chiefs and took a top-30 visit to the Cardinals the week after the Scouting Combine, NFL Media reports.
The Cardinals draft third, the Chiefs ninth and the Cowboys 12th.
Dallas, though, also has the 20th overall pick, so it could seek to move up to select Bailey, who would fill a big need.
Bailey has also visited the Titans, according to Jim Wyatt of the team website. The Titans draft fourth overall.
Bailey, 22, began his collegiate career at Stanford before transferring to Texas Tech for his senior season. He earned unanimous All-America honors and was Big 12 defensive lineman of the year.
In his four-year college career, Bailey totaled 163 tackles, 42 tackles for loss, 29 sacks and 10 forced fumbles in 46 games.
Offseason programs will start getting underway around the NFL next week.
The ten teams that hired new coaches this offseason will be eligible to start working with their players on Monday, April 6. The Ravens are the only team that has set that as their first day of work while the Cardinals, Falcons, Bills, Browns, Raiders, Dolphins, Giants, Steelers and Titans have set Tuesday as their opening day.
All of those teams will also be able to hold a voluntary minicamp later in the spring. Every team is also scheduled to hold a rookie minicamp and a mandatory minicamp over the course of the next few months.
The first two weeks of work for all teams is limited to meetings, strength and conditioning, and physical rehabilitation only. The three-week second phase allows for on-field work, but no full-speed team drills while the third OTA phase allows for team drills, but there is no live contact allowed at any point in the offseason.
Most of the 22 teams with returning coaches will be opening their offseason programs on April 20 or 21. The Broncos have set May 4 as their first day.
