Sources: Chiefs to release Buggs after arrests

The Kansas City Chiefs are expected to release defensive lineman Isaiah Buggs, who has been arrested multiple times in Alabama this offseason, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Monday.

Buggs was booked on a domestic violence/burglary charge in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on June 16. That came after he was charged May 30 with two misdemeanor counts of second-degree animal cruelty in Tuscaloosa. Two dogs allegedly under his care — a pit bull and a rottweiler mix — were found to be neglected and severely malnourished. The pit bull had to be euthanized.

Buggs’ bail on the animal cruelty charges was revoked after his domestic violence arrest.

Buggs’ agent, Trey Robinson, has alleged that his client is a victim of an ongoing “subversive campaign” to force the closure of the hookah lounge he owns in Tuscaloosa.

Buggs, 27, played two seasons for the University of Alabama and was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the sixth round of the 2019 draft. He played three seasons for the Steelers and two for the Detroit Lions before joining the Chiefs in January as a practice squad player. The Chiefs re-signed Buggs to a futures contract in February.

It has been an offseason of legal troubles for several Chiefs players this offseason. Wide receiver Rashee Rice was arrested in Dallas in March for his involvement in a six-car crash that injured at least seven people. Police say Rice was driving 119 mph on a freeway before causing the crash. Rice is facing one count of aggravated assault, one count of collision involving serious bodily injury and six counts of collision involving injury.

Rice is also a suspect in an alleged assault that injured a man in a Dallas nightclub. The man does not want police to file charges, however. That investigation remains ongoing, Dallas police said last month.

Offensive linemen Wanya Morris and Chukwuebuka Godrick, meanwhile, were arrested last month in Johnson County, Kansas, on misdemeanor possession of marijuana charges.