The Athletic’s Jesse Newell believes Chiefs WR Rashee Rice has “a long way to go” before the team will consider signing him to a contract extension.

07 May 2026

Rice is entering the final year of his rookie contract. Newell notes that the Chiefs “love [Rice] on the field even if he’s been unreliable off of it.” Star players often receive extensions even if off-field concerns are present, but Rice reportedly “needs to prove he can go a calendar year without ending up in negative offseason headlines.” Newell believes that if Rice can stay in headlines, purely due to his on-field performance, “it’s at least possible” that the Chiefs will talk themselves into an extension. Rice is the Chiefs’ clear-cut WR1 and can be treated accordingly in fantasy, as long as he shows up as his best self this summer and season. Doing so could earn him a lucrative, multi-year extension with the team that drafted him in the second round in 2023.