Kansas City Chiefs Release Isaiah Buggs After Off-Season Arrests: Report

The Kansas City Chiefs are releasing defensive lineman Isaiah Buggs this week following a pair of offseason arrests.

Citing NFL Network Insider Tom Pelissero, NFL.com reported that the back-to-back defending Super Bowl champions are parting ways with the 27-year-old player after his latest arrest last week on a charge for domestic violence and burglary in Tuscaloosa County, Ala.

Buggs was previously arrested on May 29 on misdemeanor animal cruelty charges, which his agent Trey Robinson said the player “vehemently denies.”

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He was taken into custody after two severely malnourished dogs were found in an Alabama home he was renting, according to civil records obtained by Tuscaloosa Patch and 247Sports. The former University of Alabama player was released the next day on a $600 bond.

Weeks later, on June 16, Buggs was initially released from Tuscaloosa County Jail after posting a $5,000 bond in relation to his domestic violence and burglary charge. But Pelissero reported that the bond was “revoked after his most recent arrest and he’s currently in jail as multiple legal cases play out.” 

Tuscaloosa County Jail records reviewed by PEOPLE show Buggs remains in custody at this time.

Buggs joined the Chiefs in January 2024 after three seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers and two with the Detroit Lions, as well as a brief stint with the Las Vegas Raiders. The Ruston, La., native won a national championship with Alabama before joining the NFL in 2019.

After Buggs’ first arrest, his agent issued a statement to the NFL Network claiming the animal abuse allegations were “part of a concerted effort by the City of Tuscaloosa and its Police Department to besmirch Mr. Buggs’ name and reputation,” and that an “ongoing subversive campaign” against Buggs is attempting to force the closure of his hookah lounge in Alabama.

Buggs’ agent alleged that he was arrested at King’s Hookah Lounge for misdemeanor charges on two separate occasions in the past, but that “no public record was made of these arrests.”

“Rather, the City used the threat of pushing and publicizing both the allegations filed today and these arrests as leverage against Mr. Buggs by offering to drop and not pursue them in exchange for his voluntary surrender of his business license,” the agent said in the statement.

Buggs apparently “declined the City’s offer” because of “serious concerns” about the city and police department’s “motivation for deciding to target his business.”

Neither Buggs nor his agent have made statements following his recent arrest for domestic violence and burglary.