Outlining possible next steps for Kansas City Chiefs' Rashee Rice | Pro Football Talk | NFL on NBC

all right um another receiver it's been all receiver block here we talked about this a little bit yesterday and you know the the calendar nothing tells the truth like a calendar we are 23 days away from the start of the regular season we still don't know what the status of Rashid rice is he's facing eight felony charges in Dallas for the street racing incident we've seen the video multiple times here on the program he still hasn't been charged with leaving the scene of accident involving injuries that's other felony charges that could be lodged against him so I decided yesterday it's probably a good idea to start figuring out what's going on I'm told that the NFL hasn't spoken to him about it there's been no meeting there's been no interview there's no ground swell for paid leave at this point the feeling from the perspective of player and Union is nothing's going to happen between now and week one now the league may change their mind but you've got two tracks here one the criminal charges get resolved over the course of the next 3 weeks and two days and the NFL manages to finalize its process of imposing discipline under the personal conduct policy that's impractical at this point first of all there's no vibe that prosecutors are going to do anything and even if he would plead guilty today does the NFL really finalize its process there's a third party now that issues the final it's not happening in three weeks right so the other track is paid leave commissioner exempt list no indication no hint no suggestion the league is going to do that even though felony charges that's one of the ways you end up on paid leave but think about this and I've been racking my brain and if anybody out there can think of an example let us know usually it's paid leave when it's a domestic violence situation that's what they typically use it for even though the policy is written in a way that would allow them to put Rashid rice on paid leave and eight felonies I don't know how many takes 34 I don't know how many felony charges does it take if there isn't one that deals with some form of violence being inflicted upon a family member or some other person in that type of a domestic setting the NFL may not activate paid leave he right now I think there's kind of a muted quiet confidence from the perspective of the player that he will be I'm surprised by this he will be there week one Raven Chiefs when we're in Kansas City to start the season barring some sort of an unexpected at this point change by the NFL that's the way the wind is blowing Chris that's what my understanding is based upon some phone calls I made yesterday you you seem you know I I always know you know more about these subjects than I do right you know I I don't always dig deep into these type of things here but again just being a guy that we we follow the league the way it is you can tell to your phrase where the wind's blowing at times and all that like yeah you asked me six seven weeks ago I'm like there's no way they're going to Rashid rice is going to be there the start of the year I I don't get a sense at all from hearing anything anywhere that that's going to be a thing I mean the more we sit here and the closer we get the way it seems is like hey this is Rashid rice is going to be here maybe this whole year this might be something that goes into next year where he has to pay you know some time or miss some games then but as it sits right now yeah I don't get the sense that they're going to be without him if you don't put him on page leave then you are locked into the normal procedure of waiting until the entirety of the criminal justice system runs its course and then you go back and you do your investigation and you administer discipline that way DeShaun Watson was different because well there was a criminal process it resulted in no charges so then it was over it was done and the NFL could embark on it's that's the highest profile obviously personal conduct policy situation in recent years but with Rashid rice it could be a year who knows at this point and once you get into the season if it's resolved how long will it take for the league to do its work yeah again because it's no longer the commissioner as judge jury and executioner the commissioner and the league have their position it goes to a retired judge who's responsible for having a hearing reaching a decision their appeal rights it's just it in theory it's possible that something happens this season but it's looking very impractical that there's any resolution by week one and unless Roger Goodell at some point between now and September 5 says we can't have this guy on the field when 30 million people are watching because they're going to have to talk about what he's facing off the field I don't know maybe they have to I I don't know look this isn't our department we're not involved in the game production you got that video that we've seen on this program many times do you play that video so people understand Rashid rice did and what he's charged with doing I don't know but if he's there and there's the video it's a very different vibe than if he's not there but you know somebody made the point to me yesterday and this makes a lot of sense it's not like we're not going to cover it even if he isn't there right it's not like we don't talk about it either way Rashid rice is playing despite what happened or Rashid rice isn't here and here's why he's not here it's going to be hard for the NFL to ignore it week one when the Ravens play the chiefs no I mean it's going to be impossible I mean because you'll definitely have people out there they're going to try to throw that in the face of the NFL and oh we're letting this guy play and do all that so that's going to be there and there's no doubt about it it's going to be part of the conversation right selfishly hey I I'd love to see the Kansas City Chiefs as close to full strength as they as we possibly could see right against the Ravens in week one I just see the best football right but I yeah it's going to rub some people the wrong way I I understand that it's hard it's hard to govern a league with you know over a th000 players and all that and uh yeah this one it just like you said uh I I'm I'm I'm a little surprised as quiet as it is and it doesn't seem like anything's going to be resolved anytime soon hi it's Mike Florio thanks for watching PFT on YouTube hit subscribe for the latest news and Analysis from pro football talk