BRISTOL, Conn., Sept. 14 (UPI) -- Who's the man in the mask?
That would be former NFL running back Ray Rice, trying to work his way back into the league by showing off how hard he is training.
The 29-year-old was the star of a BlueStreak Sports Training video posted Tuesday on Facebook. In the video, Rice wears a weighted vest and an oxygen deprivation mask. The gym is in Connecticut. It's hard to tell how applicable Rice's skill set shown in the video would be to another NFL gig. In the video, he shows off his flexibility with resistance bands, does sit-ups, bicep curls, balancing drills, leaps, and catches tennis balls.
Rice was infamously suspended by the league and later cut by the Baltimore Ravens after being shown in a video while punching his then-fiancée. The three-time Pro Bowl selection "might get a chance" to play this season, ESPN's Adam Schefter reported Sunday.
A growing sense that Ray Rice, who last played a game Dec. 29, 2013, might get chance to play in NFL again this season, per league sources.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 11, 2016
"A growing sense that Ray Rice, who last played a game Dec. 29, 2013, might get chance to play in NFL again this season, per league sources," Schefter reported last weekend.
In July, Rice said that he would donate his entire salary to domestic violence charities if he signed this season with a new team.
"All the scrutiny that I've got, it was deserved, because domestic violence is a horrible thing," Rice told USA TODAY's Tom Pelissero in July.
"Me donating my salary is something that'll be from the heart for me. I only want to play football so I can end it the right way for my kids and for the people that really believed in me. But I know there's a lot of people affected by domestic violence, and every dollar helps. It's raising awareness.
"People need homes. People need shelter when they're in a crucial situation. I've donated a lot of money to charities, but I had a situation where it was a national crisis. I'm not saying I'd be [donating the salary] to get on the field, but it's something that will show where my heart is. My heart is about finishing the right way and helping people along the way."
Rice hasn't played in the NFL since the 2013 season. That year he rushed for 660 yards and four touchdowns on 214 carries. He also had 321 receiving yards. Rice scored 43 touchdowns from 2008 to 2013, all with the Ravens. He was drafted in the fifth round of the 2008 NFL Draft out of Rutgers.
But Rice hasn't always been optimistic. In early July he told the Newark Star-Ledger that his "window is closing."
"I know that the window for playing is closing," Rice told NJ.com's James Kratch. "But if my window closes, I'm going to make sure I open up a thousand more opportunities for kids, to give them an opportunity to pick up where I left off. That's where I'm at. I've got three Pro Bowls and a Super Bowl. There's a lot of people that can't go out there and do what I did. But I don't want it to end that way, it's safe to say."
Rice was arrested, and later released, for the 2014 'simple assault' in an Atlantic City casino.
