If Rashee Rice Is Suspended, Gabe Davis Would Make Sense For Chiefs

The week before NFL training camp usually serves as the calm before the storm.

But for the Kansas City Chiefs, it’s been a week of upheaval at the wide receiver position.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, a Dallas County judge sentenced Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice to five years probation and 30 days of jail, which can be served during those five years.

This is a result of his multi-car crash in Dallas during May in 2024 when he was traveling at 119 mph in his Lamborghini. He had been facing one count of aggravated assault, one count of collision involving serious bodily injury and six counts of collision involving injury.

And this news comes one day after the Chiefs put Justyn Ross on waivers per the wide receiver’s request.

The Ross move is not significant. Despite a talented college career in which he had a 1,000-yard receiving season while winning the national championship as a Clemson freshman in 2018, injuries and off-the-field issues limited Ross to just six catches for 53 yards in 12 games played with the Chiefs.

But the legal development with Rice, who is already coming back from a season-ending knee injury, is seismic.

The Chiefs were counting on him as their No. 1 receiver, and now that the judge has ruled, the NFL can go through its disciplinary process, and Rice likely will receive a multi-game suspension.

“We have been closely monitoring all developments in the matter, said Brian McCarthy, the NFL’s vice president of communications, “which remains under review.”

The Chiefs had been feeling pretty good about their wide receiver room, which looked like it could be the team’s best since it traded away Tyreek Hill. Kansas City’s top five was slated to be Rice, Xavier Worthy, Marquise “Hollywood” Brown, JuJu Smith-Schuster and promising rookie Jalen Royals.

Now with the status of Rice, who led the Chiefs receivers in yardage in 2023, potentially in peril, the Chiefs might want to look at some options.

Gabe Davis to the Rescue?

After extending right guard Trey Smith, the Chiefs have some salary cap room with which to work. They are slated to have more than $20 million in cap space for 2025, according to Spotrac.

Perhaps they could use some of that available space on one of the more intriguing wide receiver options out there: Gabe Davis.

Rice and Davis are very different players. Davis stretches the field, having averaged more than 16.5 yards per reception during three of his seasons, and Rice is stellar at getting yards after the catch and breaking tackles over the middle of the field.

But the Chiefs saw firsthand how good Davis was when he burned them in the famous “13-second” divisional playoff game. Then playing for the Buffalo Bills, Davis had eight catches for 201 yards and four touchdowns in the 42-36 classic won by the Chiefs.

Historical Precedent

The Chiefs are known to bring back players who have succeeded against them. One recent example is running back Samaje Perine, who the Chiefs signed last year to a one-year, $1.5 million deal.

Toward the end of the first half in the AFC Championship Game on Jan. 30, 2022, Perine took a short dump-off pass and broke tackle attempts by Charvarius Ward and Nick Bolton while racing 41 yards to the end zone, shifting momentum back to the Cincinnati Bengals.

“We all know what he did to us when he was at Cincinnati with that screen play,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said.

Perine also rushed for 106 yards in a win against the Chiefs in Week 13 of the 2022 season

One of Perine’s former Bengals teammates, Tyler Boyd, also could serve as a replacement if Rice misses time.

There, though, is a reason Boyd and Davis remain unsigned. Their production has dropped off precipitously since they faced the Chiefs in the playoffs.

The Jacksonville Jaguars signed Davis to a three-year, $39 million contract last year but ended up releasing him in May, and the Tennessee Titans signed Boyd to a one-year, $2.4 million deal last season and then didn’t re-sign him.

Both had the worst years of their career last season. Davis, who suffered torn meniscus in his knee, had career lows in catches (20), yards (239) and touchdowns (two), and Boyd also had career lows in catches (39), yards (320) and touchdowns (0).

But either could be an intriguing option for a Chiefs team that could have a need at position group that had seemed very stable a week ago.