From time to time (or more often), we’ll supplement or coverage of press conferences and reports from beat writers and national outlets with our own reporting. From time to time, we get proper credit for it. From time to time, we don’t.
It used to bother me. Nowadays, I take the Charles Barkley approach: As long as the postman shows up on the first and fifteenth of each month, I don’t care.
That said, there’s news making the rounds this morning that the NFL isn’t expected to put Chiefs receiver Rashee Rice on the Commissioner Exempt list despite eight pending felony charges, and that the league won’t punish Rice under the Personal Conduct Policy until the legal process has concluded.
If you read PFT (and thank you if you do — also thank you since you currently are), this is old news. On August 13, the league provided this statement to PFT regarding Rice: “We have been monitoring developments in the matter. Following the conclusion of the legal process, the NFL will review the matter under the Personal Conduct Policy.”
We also added that paid leave is unlikely, because it hasn’t happened yet. “If it hasn’t happened yet, why would it happen in the next three weeks?” we wrote. “Although a felony charge makes the player eligible for paid leave, the league typically uses it only in the case of domestic violence.”
Since that blurb was posted 16 days ago, Browns defensive tackle Mike Hall Jr. was arrested on domestic violence charges. And he already has landed on paid leave. This makes even more clear the league’s disinclination to place Rice on paid leave. Otherwise, it would have happened.
Thus, with a week to go until Week 1 for the Chiefs hosting the Ravens, Rice — a very promising talent whom the Chiefs have supported in large part because they believe in his ability to break out in 2024 — most likely will be available to play, until the legal case ends and the NFL’s internal disciplinary process plays out. That’s the news from today, and it’s the same news from 16 days ago.