After a troubling offseason, Isaiah Buggs’ time with the Kansas City Chiefs has come to an end.
The team on Monday released the 27-year-old defensive lineman after a pair of off-field incidents that came in less than three weeks. NFL Network reported that Buggs’ bond was revoked and that he remains in jail as his legal matters play out.
The Chiefs signed Buggs, a sixth-round draft pick for the Steelers in 2019, in late March to a futures contract.
On June 16, Buggs was arrested on a charge of second-degree domestic violence/burglary, according to arrest records posted online by the Tuscaloosa (Alabama) County Sheriff’s Office. Buggs was also charged in late May with a pair of second-degree animal cruelty misdemeanors, also in Tuscaloosa.
In the animal cruelty case, the Tuscaloosa Police Department found two dogs who appeared malnourished and abandoned on the back porch of a home Buggs was renting, according to ESPN and Patch.com. A neighbor also told police that the dogs had been on the back porch for at least 10 days, according to Patch.
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At the time of that arrest, Buggs’ agent denied the claims of animal cruelty in a statement to ESPN.
Patch also reported that Buggs is facing pending charges for pushing Tuscaloosa Police Chief Brent Blankley into other officers during an April arrest and for allegedly pointing a gun at a woman outside of a hookah lounge he owns in Tuscaloosa.
Buggs had been set to enter his sixth season in the NFL, after stops with the Detroit Lions (2022-23) and Pittsburgh Steelers (2019-21). A native of Ruston, Louisiana, Buggs played college football with the University of Alabama and was a member of the program’s 2017 national championship team.
In his career, Buggs has totaled 89 tackles, four tackles for loss, two sacks and one forced fumble. In his two seasons in Detroit, he appeared in 27 games, starting 16 of those.
