Gene Simmons says he wouldn't sign Ray Rice to his arena team

We've reached the point in the Ray Rice story in which Gene Simmons is offering his views on the running back's football future. At least Dr. Phil had nothing to do with a story hitting rock bottom this time.

Simmons, the member of the rock group KISS who is now a co-owner of the Arena Football League's L.A. Kiss team, told TMZ he would not sign Rice to play for his team. He gave TMZ a simple "No," to a question of whether he would sign Rice or Adrian Peterson as he walked to his car (the TMZ interviews where they shout random questions at celebrities as they leave events are really strange, by the way).

On the surface this means absolutely nothing. Rice presumably would never entertain playing in the AFL, and neither would Peterson, who is under contract with the Vikings anyway. So nobody should really care what Simmons has to say on the matter, any more than if I said I would never be commissioner of the NFL. We'd be debating hypothetical situations that have no chance of happening in reality. But it's a decent reason to look at what Rice might have ahead of him in professional football.

Peterson is a different case than Rice, because he's a much better player and still in his prime. And, the Vikings haven't said what his future with the team is. Rice is a free agent after the Ravens cut him, following his domestic violence incident in which he punched his wife, and showed signs in 2013 that he's slowing down, even though he's just 27. Yet, Rice has been a very good player and likely could still help an NFL team if given the chance. If his indefinite NFL suspension is lifted or he wins his appeal, of course.

Simmons isn't opposed to a publicity stunt. He and fellow KISS member Paul Stanley have turned their co-ownership of the team into a bad reality show. Last year they tried to get some attention by offering Tim Tebow a chance to play for their team. And away from arena football, let's say the man is no stranger to drumming up a story. He's a marketing genius. And even though Rice would be the most famous player to go from the NFL to the AFL in the arena league's history, Simmons wants no part of it.

That would lead one to wonder what chance Rice has to make it back in the NFL. Players have gotten second chances before after horrendous controversies (Michael Vick being the main example), so it's not unprecedented. Rice was coming into this season penciled in as the Ravens' starter, so it's doubtful the entire NFL thinks he's washed up as a football player. It's just whether a team would want to deal with the negative publicity and unwanted attention that would come with signing Rice.

When a publicity machine like Gene Simmons wouldn't even want to deal with that headache, you have to wonder who will.

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdowncorner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab