Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes weighs in on Rashee Rice, Harrison Butker - ESPN

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Patrick Mahomes defended the character of Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker and offered words of encouragement for wide receiver Rashee Rice, who has been involved in two separate off-field incidents, during the team's opening week of OTAs on Wednesday.

Butker became embroiled in controversy for comments he made during a commencement address this month at Benedictine College. During his 20-minute speech, Butker addressed female graduates in the audience about the «most diabolical lies» they have been told and using his wife, Isabelle Butker, as the example, intimated that the graduates should be most excited to take on the «vocation» of homemaker."

Mahomes said he did not «necessarily agree with» several comments made by his teammate of seven years but chose to «judge him by the character that he shows every single day.»

"… There's certain things that he said that I don't necessarily agree with, but I understand the person that he is and he is trying to do whatever he can to lead people in the right direction," Mahomes said. «And that might not be the same values as I have, but at the same time, I'm going to judge him by the character that he shows every single day. That's a great person and we'll continue to move along and try to help build each other up to make ourselves better every single day. But at the end of the day, we're going to come together as a team and I think that'll help out as eliminating those distractions outside of the building as well.»

Chiefs coach Andy Reid said he speaks with Butker «all the time» but did not feel the need to address the kicker's comments because «everybody's got their own opinions.»

«We're a microcosm of life,» Reid said. «Everybody is from different