Getty

Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice.

The Kansas City Chiefs are already managing one problematic player with name recognition in wide receiver Rashee Rice, so adding another would be as risky as it is counterintuitive.

For all intents and purposes, that should remove Tyreek Hill from the list of free-agent wide receivers Kansas City was already likely to consider before Rice buried himself under more legal troubles on Tuesday, May 19.

Rice is headed to jail for 30 days after breaking his parole by testing positive for marijuana, and those circumstances are compounded further by a recent procedure on his knee.

“He did not know he was going to be going to jail for 30 days. If he did, there is no way that he would have had the knee surgery that he did last week,” ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported, adding that Rice will miss two months with the injury. “That is two months normally with the attention, care and rehab that you’re going to get. I don’t know how this works where you go get knee surgery and then you’re in jail.”

Chiefs Need to Add Wideout After Rashee Rice Setback, Vikings’ Signing of Jauan Jennings

GettyWide receiver Tyreek Hill, formerly of the Miami Dolphins.

Kansas City was already a strong candidate to add to the WR room in free agency and had interest in Jauan Jennings before the former San Francisco 49ers pass-catcher inked a one-year deal with the Minnesota Vikings.

That development leaves Hill among a handful of players at the top of what remains of the wide receiver FA market. Furthermore, he makes sense for the Chiefs in multiple ways, given he was a prominent member of the team’s first championship roster (2019-20) under head coach Andy Reid and with Patrick Mahomes starting at quarterback.

However, Hill butted heads with the organization before it eventually chose to trade him to the Miami Dolphins for a draft haul (five total picks, including a first-rounder and second-rounder) in March 2022.

Hill was excellent in Miami for multiple seasons, but his production began to trail off in 2024 before he suffered a catastrophic knee injury early in 2025, which included a dislocation of the joint and the tearing of his ACL. The Dolphins cut Hill this spring ahead of his age-32 campaign to clear close to $23 million in salary cap space.

Tyreek Hill Has History of Off-Field Issues Worse in Nature Than Those Plaguing Rashee Rice

GettyFormer Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill. 

More than Hill’s proclivity for making waves in the locker room and with his organization when things aren’t going optimally —which could be an even bigger problem now that he is aged, coming off the worst injury of his career and liable to watch his physical gifts continue to decline — he also has his own problematic history of off-field incidents.

Hill faced allegations of domestic violence and child abuse during his first tenure with the Chiefs. During his time in Miami, Hill faced a lawsuit from an Instagram model who said the wideout broke her leg while doing a “football drill” in his home, per Sporting News.

More allegations of domestic abuse against Hill also surfaced in 2025, the source being his estranged wife.

There are multiple on-field and locker room reasons for the Chiefs to avoid a reunion with the five-time All-Pro, even despite their need at the position. But with Rice’s off-field concerns currently front and center as training camp approaches, it would most behoove Kansas City to look in a direction opposite Hill because of the scrutiny and questions a reunion with the volatile WR would bring.