Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice will not face any disciplinary action from the NFL after he was accused of domestic abuse.
“There was insufficient evidence to support a finding that he violated the personal conduct policy,” the league said in a Friday, April 3, statement.
Rice’s attorney, Sean Lindsey, later thanked the league for its “thorough investigation.”
“Mr. Rice wants to thank the NFL for their thorough investigation, and looks forward to the start of the 2026-27 NFL season,” Lindsey said in a Friday statement to The Associated Press.
Chiefs ‘Aware’ of Abuse Allegations by Rashee Rice’s Ex-Girlfriend
The Chiefs did not officially comment on the NFL’s Friday decision, ESPN reports.
The NFL’s months-long investigation began in February, after Rice’s ex-girlfriend, Dacoda Jones, alleged that Rice physically assaulted her multiple times over a year-and-a-half period. Jones claimed that Rice caused her physical injuries, including bleeding and bruising.
“Rice has grabbed, choked, strangled, pushed, thrown, scratched, hit and headbutted Ms. Jones, as well as hit her with inanimate objects,” said the February lawsuit.
Rice, 25, and Jones share two children together.
The February lawsuit further claims that Rice “engaged in other violent and abusive behaviors towards Ms. Jones, including throwing objects, destroying property, punching walls and breaking furniture, as well as locking her out in the middle of the night,” noting that “many of these behaviors occurred while Ms. Jones was pregnant.”
On January 7, Jones posted photos on her Instagram that allegedly showed bruises and wounds on multiple parts of her body, claiming that Rice had been physically assaulting her for multiple years. While she didn’t name Rice directly, she claimed the injuries came from the father of her children.
“I’m so tired of keeping quiet,” Jones said in the since-deleted Instagram post. “I’m so tired of protecting his image. I’ve been through too much in a span of 8 years and I’ve had ENOUGH!”
Friday’s decision comes at the heels of Rice’s six-game suspension from last season, after he was involved in a March 2024 high-speed crash on a Dallas highway that left multiple people injured.
Kansas City Chiefs’ Rashee Rice Accused of Domestic Abuse in Lawsuit: Reports
In July 2025, Rice was sentenced to five years’ probation and 30 days in jail after pleading guilty to third-degree felony charges of collision involving serious bodily injury and racing on a highway causing bodily injury. Prosecutors said Rice drove 119 miles per hour on a Dallas highway, resulting in a multi-car crash.
During the Chiefs game on September 14, 2025 — two months after Rice’s arrest — his teammates, Travis Kelce and Tyquan Thornton, were pictured wearing custom tees with photos of Rice and the words “Free 4,” a reference to Rice’s jersey number.
The shirts garnered criticism from Marc Lenahan, the attorney of the woman who was injured in the March 2024 incident in Texas.
“Talk [and] T-shirts are cheap,” Lenahan said. “If Kelce and Thornton truly believed in Rashee, they’d loan him the money to pay his victims. But since they won’t do that, maybe they can at least be better role models by wearing a T-shirt with an important public service warning: ‘Flee 4!’”
