‘Special treatment’ – Puzzled fans call out NFL for favoring Chiefs as conspiracy theory returns

The Kansas City Chiefs conspiracies have started all over again.

Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and the rest of Chiefs Kingdom haven’t even begun their quest yet for Super Bowl glory in 2025.

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But fans are already questioning whether the NFL is leaning heavily in the favor of the league’s latest dynasty ahead of the 2025 regular season campaign.

This is due to the delay in wide receiver Rashee Rice‘s disciplinary hearing, which has been moved by the league until after September 30.

On July 17, Rice pled guilty to two third-degree felony charges after he was involved in a street racing crash which caused multiple injuries. The incident was caught on video.

The 25-year-old was sentenced to 30 days of jail time and five years probation for his role in the crash. He will be able to serve his jail time at any point during the five-year probationary window.

The NFL were waiting for all the legal proceedings to be completed before they could accelerate their own disciplinary process, where a multi-game suspension for Rice is widely expected.

However, on Thursday it was announced that the league had delayed their proceedings until the end of September, providing no reason as to why they have chosen to do so.

This has led some fans to speculate whether the NFL is allowing Rice to feature for the Chiefs as they gear up for several blockbuster clashes against some of the league’s leading Super Bowl contenders to start the 2025 campaign.

The Chiefs have to travel to São Paolo, Brazil where they will take on division rivals Los Angeles Chargers, before hosting the reigning Super Bowl Champions Philadelphia Eagles at iconic Arrowhead Stadium.

Week 3 sees the Chiefs take on the New York Giants at Met Life Stadium on NBC’s Sunday Night Football, before they host AFC North juggernaut Baltimore Ravens back at their stadium – the loudest outdoor venue in the world.

The dominos fall in the Chiefs’ favor again

Entering Week 1, it appears that Mahomes will now have at least Rice and Xavier Worthy, who is tipped to go ‘ballistic’ this season.

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Getty

To add fuel to the fire, there are some injury concerns to the receiving corps, with Hollywood Brown dealing with an ankle injury and Sky Moore being carted off the practice field after sustaining an reported hamstring injury back at the end of July.

This has only led the conspiracy allegations to mount that the Chiefs again have the NFL in their pocket.

“So he won’t be suspended at the beginning, like virtually every other scenario, ever,” one disgruntled NFL fan posted. “Instead, the suspension will come AFTER the Chiefs play the tougher teams and BEFORE the Chiefs play their easiest 4-game stretch of the season? Can the NFL at least attempt to look neutral?”

“Never seen the NFL give more leniency to a player or team,” another commented.

“Special treatment. Look who they play the first four weeks and tell me that was not on purpose to make it after them,” a third fan commented.

“Thank God Rashee Rice didn’t sports gamble… he would’ve been immediately suspended for the entire season,” another wrote. “Instead, he just caused a multi-car crash in Dallas and pleaded guilty. … But at least he didn’t gamble!”

“KC Privilege, but yet they were quick to suspend [Jordan] Addison… smh,” a fifth added.

What makes this whole situation even more confusing is that Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Jordan Addison, who plead guilty to a lesser misdemeanor charge with no jail time after a DUI citation, did so on the exact same day as Rice.

Yet, Addison was served with a three-game suspension by the NFL back in early August.

“Maybe I’m a conspiracy theorist, but this is odd,” an anonymous league source told NBC Sports’ Pro Football Talk.

“You hardly ever see players get suspended in season unless they did something in season like a drug test or something.”

This isn’t the first time fans have suggested that the Chiefs are conspiring with the league, with some game-altering calls made by the officials always appearing to fall in favor of the ‘luckiest team in NFL history.’

The rumors got so loud that commissioner Roger Goodell was forced into explicitly stating that pro football was not biased in favor of the Kingdom.

Now, the cycle has begun all over again, with all the dominos just appearing to continue to fall in favor of Kansas City, who have reached the Super Bowl in five of the last six seasons and become champions on three occasions.

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