Chiefs’ offseason legal troubles get bigger: Isaiah Buggs, Rashee Rice, Wayna Morris…

The Kansas City Chiefs have been the NFL’s most successful team in recent times, with Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes leading the franchise to three of the last five Super Bowls. Even Taylor Swift has become a fan. Yet trouble has been brewing for a while at Arrowhead Stadium and has culminated in one member of the roster, Isaiah Buggs, being released ahead of the 2024 season.

Why have the Chiefs released Isaiah Buggs?

The former Steelers and Lions defensive tackle has been arrested on two separate occasions for different offences in recent weeks, with the second seemingly the final straw for the Chiefs.

On 30 May, Buggs was charged with two misdemeanour counts of second-degree animal cruelty in Alabama, turning himself into the Tuscaloosa County Jail after being accused of mistreating and neglecting two dogs, who were found to be malnourished.

The 27-year-old was granted bail, which was then revoked after he was booked on a domestic violence/burglary charge on 16 June, also in Tuscaloosa.

Buggs’ agent has claimed the arrests are part of a campaign to have his clients’ hookah lounge in the city closed down. The player has spent been in jail since last Monday, with news of his release by the Chiefs coming seven days later.

The Chiefs had signed Buggs as a practice squad player in January and then to a futures contract in February. He is not, however, the only Chiefs player to have been in hot water with the authorities of late.

Why were Rashee Rice and Wayna Morris arrested?

Wide receiver Rashee Rice was arrested in Dallas in March for causing a six-car crash which injured at least seven people. The 24-year-old was found to have been driving at 119mph on a freeway and now faces one count of aggravated assault, one count of collision involving serious bodily injury and six counts of collision involving injury.

On top of that, he is also a suspect in an alleged assault that resulted in a man being injured in a nightclub in Dallas. No charges have been levelled at Rice or anyone else, for that matter, although police are continuing to investigate the incident.

As if that weren’t enough, offensive linesmen Wanya Morris and Chukwuebuka Godrick, a designated International Pathway Player, were both arrested in Kansas last month on misdemeanour possession of marijuana charges.

Add Harrison Butker’s commencement speech into the mix and it seems the Chiefs don’t have controversy to seek. At least Kelce is managing to keep his nose clean hanging out with Swift on The Eras Tour in London…