Philly Front Office

[UPDATE: Since this was initially posted, police have decided not to continue with charges against Worthy. However, his girlfriend was granted a temporary protective order against him. Those two things do not exactly add up and we will see what happens]

This weekend, recent Kansas City savior and the man who set the record for most TDs scored in the Super Bowl after the winning team’s Gatorade bath, Xavier Worthy, was arrested. Despite having the combine 40 record, he was not fast enough to avoid charges of “assault against a family or household member by impeding their breathing or circulation.” Sounds like he strangled someone in his home. Ho-hum, just another off-season for the Chiefs.

If they haven’t already, they will likely say something to the tune of “no comment” or “we are still gathering information” or “it would be inappropriate to say anything until the legal proceedings play out.” Once he is released from jail, Worthy will deny all charges. Worthy will likely receive no jail time (they never do), and the league will suspend him for 0-4 games depending on how much anyone remembers the details 12-24 months from now. You can bet he will be allowed to play in the meantime. That’s how the NFL and professional athletes handle these things. It is no surprise.

The Chiefs especially do not care about any of this and are just counting the days for everyone to forget and move on. RCurrently, that’s what they are doing with Rashee Rice? On March 30, 2024 he was involved in a high-speed collision, racing in a rented Lambo. Multiple people were in his vehicle when it collided with other vehicles. They found weed in the car, but didn’t find Rice since he fled the scene. He kind of apologized for the whole thing. I say “kind of” because he deleted that apology from social media. Hunt has not been suspended. A few weeks later he was suspected of assault in a nightclub that left someone in the hospital. I’m sure he was sorry about that too until lawyers told him people who are sorry go to jail.

You’ve never heard of Isaiah Buggs, right? You are probably better off. The Chiefs released him last season after he was arrested for assault and burglary. They didn’t release him two weeks earlier though when he was arrested for animal cruelty. That was apparently fine.

In all fairness, the Chiefs did release Kareem Hunt in 2018 when a video came out of him pushing a woman to the ground and kicking her repeatedly. The woman didn’t press charges though so nothing happened to Hunt other than an 8-game suspension. All was forgiven by the Chiefs when Isaiah Pacheco was injured earlier this past season. They welcomed Hunt back with open arms because they needed a running back. What a redemption story (this was somehow a discourse for Chiefs fans and the NFL…redemption from what exactly, a victim not pressing charges?)! Really taking a stand there guys.

Frank Clark was a big part of the Chiefs defense for years. That’s probably why no one remembers that he was arrested twice for gun charges in 2021. In one of those events, police found an Uzi in his car. It’s okay though because he had made 2 straight Pro Bowls at that point, with another on the way. No suspension that season, but did get two games the next year before winning a Super Bowl.

Before the 2020 season, Bashaud Breeland was arrested with alcohol and weed in his car and then resisting arrest. The Chiefs had just signed him to a new contract. He was a starter though, so after his 4-game suspension all was well.

What about Tyreek Hill? He was dismissed from Oklahoma State for beating up his pregnant girlfriend. The Chiefs drafted him in the 5th round anyway. When his son showed up with a broken arm in 2019 the Chiefs and the NFL were pretty happy to hear that it couldn’t be determined who actually broke the kid’s arm. No charges. No suspension. No problem.

There are so many more.

• In January 2022, Willie Gay was arrested for a domestic incident when trying to see his kid. 4 game suspension, comes back for Super Bowl.
• Remember Damon Arnette? The highly touted CB out of Ohio State was too much of a headache for even the Raiders after he purposely crashed his car into a woman’s car and fled the scene before being filmed waiving guns around. The Chiefs decided they liked the cut of his jib. They later released him because he was arrested again, this time for assault with a deadly weapon.
• Justyn Ross is a receiver for the Chiefs with 2 Super Bowl rings. Between getting those rings he was arrested for domestic violence. He won the first, took his 6-week suspension, and then won another. Considering how they handled Ross, Hunt coming back was no surprise.
• There are a ton more drug and domestic violence charges.

Then there’s Big Red’s family. We won’t go into Garrett, but Britt Reid was an employee of the Kansas City Chiefs despite numerous drug related problems and pointing a gun at a motorist’s face in a road rage incident. That’s considered qualified in KC apparently as he was on the coaching staff for years. In February 2024, while over the DUI limit, he crashed into a parked car and permanently injured a 5-year-old. The Chiefs simply did not renew his contract for this and agreed to pay the child’s medical bills. What saints. Despite having a lifetime of being a fuck up and never paying for it, Reid’s sentence was commuted and he will be under house arrest until October of this year. I am sure he will have a “feel good” story of returning to the Chiefs some time next season.

The Chiefs have a very clear method of dealing with player arrests. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done, it only matters if you are going to help the team. If you are a starter, they wait for the legal process to play out to see if enough time can lapse for the masses to forget the whole thing. Who knows, maybe even witnesses won’t want to cooperate! Then they can claim their innocence and even get sympathy like Hunt. If you are a reserve, that’s different. Then that whole “waiting for things to play out” part can be skipped and they just cut the guy. Well, unless they need you again. Then you can come back because no one will remember. Don’t expect the Chiefs to do anything to Mr. Garbage Time Touchdown anytime soon.

Eagles

As Eagles fans, we do have the Jalen Carter and Michael Vick histories on our record. We all hope that what happened with Carter, being a part of a street racing death, is not who he is. He has to live with that memory forever. Vick forfeited tens of millions of dollars, went to federal prison for 18 months, and is now an advocate against the dog fighting and killing for which he was arrested. The Eagles gave him a second chance. We have to reckon with those and believe that these are redeemable. Along with fan stereotypes, this is why we are considered the bad guys. The public will never see us differently.

We are the bad guys despite our only serious incident on record recently being Josh Sills. He was arrested on serious charges stemming from an incident in 2019, but was acquitted. The Eagles released him anyway. There hasn’t been another real incident since April 2018 when just acquired Daryl Worley was found unconscious in a car with a gun. He was released immediately too. The Eagles do not have any domestic abuse accusations on record since at least 2000. This is not an accident.

Despite the stereotypes, the Eagles make it a priority to draft and keep good people through their Red Star program. The Chiefs simply do not give a shit about this. Instead, they rely on the “aww shucks” demeanor of Andy Reid, the popularity of Taylor Swift, and the generational greatness of Patrick Mahomes to hide the fact that they are a scumbag organization who only cares about winning football games. Where did that get them this year against the “bad guys”?

All arrest records courtesy of USA Today’s database:

NFL player arrests database: Records since 2000 | USA TODAY Databases | USA TODAY NETWORK