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ESPN's Adam Schefter reports that a Dallas judge has sentenced Chiefs WR Rashee Rice to five years' probation and 30 days in jail for his role in a multi-car accident on March 30, 2024. It's a surprising turn in the case, given that no trial date had been set for Rice as of early July. This announcement of the sentence seems to signal that a plea bargain was reached. Of course, the big question for fantasy managers is whether and how long we should expect to lose Rice from our lineups now.
Schefter: "Now that the judge has ruled, the NFL can expedite its disciplinary process and Rice is likely to receive a multi-game suspension. ... The expectation now is that [Rice] will serve his suspension during this upcoming season."
That's been the expectation at the end of this case all along, but we still have no idea how many games "multi" is.
Rice's transgression doesn't appear overly serious compared with plenty of others who have faced league suspension. Police didn't charge him with DUI. He did face a count of aggravated assault among the initial charges, but it's not clear yet exactly what Rice is being convicted of (or pleading to).
We've got Rice projected to miss a couple of games for now and will certainly update the projections once we get an official suspension.
Any time Rice misses would obviously leave targets available for TE Travis Kelce, WR Xavier Worthy, and WR Marquise Brown, among others.
Missing Rice would ding QB Patrick Mahomes' outlook a bit but probably not meaningfully damage his projection for those weeks.
Getting a ruling might actually help Rice's dynasty outlook by finally providing an end point to this saga.
We're not altering his dynasty ranking at all for this news.
Worthy claimed a starting role right away as a 2025 rookie and likely stands to benefit the most from any time Rice misses.
Kelce, meanwhile, works more similarly to how Rice gets used on the field and could also see a boost.
Rice has moved his way up to the 2-3 turn range in best ball ADP this offseason, with many expecting his court case to push into next year and thus avoid a 2025 suspension.
Expect Rice's ADP to move later on this news, though. And there's potential to seize value on him as fantasy drafters figure out how to react to the still nebulous situation.
Rice still looks fine as a Round 4 pick, assuming the suspension doesn't wind up any longer than three games.
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