Chiefs history of problem players: Timeline of off-field incidents under Andy Reid, from Kareem Hunt to Rashee Rice

The Chiefs have enjoyed tremendous success under head coach Andy Reid. Since “Big Red” took over the team in 2013, Kansas City has won three Super Bowls, appeared in the Super Bowl four times and is the team with the most wins in the NFL.

This is a testament to Reid's coaching as well as the talent of former quarterback Alex Smith and current superstar QB Patrick Mahomes.

But winning isn't the only thing associated with the Chiefs. The organization has had a number of players who struggled with legal issues before or during their time with Kansas City.

Here's more about the Chiefs' history with such problem players during Reid's tenure as coach.

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Chiefs history with problematic players

Tyreek Hill

The controversy surrounding Hill began before he reached the NFL level.

After a few seasons at Garden City Community College, Hill decided to play Division I football at Oklahoma State in 2014. However, due to his arrest for domestic violence, he only played one season for the Cowboys.

Crystal Espinal, Hill's girlfriend who was eight weeks pregnant with his child, told police that an argument at Hill's home late on the night of Dec. 12, 2014, escalated into physical violence. Espinal claimed Hill choked her and punched her in the stomach and face.

The wide receiver spent the night in jail and was charged the next day with domestic violence and assault by strangulation. That same day, Oklahoma State announced it had dismissed Hill from the football and track programs.

Hill initially pleaded not guilty. In August 2015, represented by a new defense attorney, Hill pleaded guilty to the charges and received three years' probation thanks to an agreement with prosecutors.

Hill was not invited to the NFL Combine and was not expected to be drafted due to his arrest in 2014. But the Chiefs selected him with the No. 165 overall pick in the fifth round of the 2016 NFL Draft.

“I just want everyone to understand that we did our due diligence in terms of fully vetting each and every one of our draft class members,” then-general manager John Dorsey told The Kansas City Star. “We would never put anyone in this community at risk.”

But the trouble with Hill didn't end there. On March 15, 2019, The Kansas City Star reported that Hill was under police investigation for assault against him and Espinal's three-year-old son, who had broken an arm. The Chiefs said they were aware of the situation but allowed Hill to participate in the team's offseason program in April.

On April 25, 2019, the Johnson County, Missouri, District Attorney announced that neither Hill nor Espinal would be charged with child abuse, but that a crime had occurred and the investigation was still active. Early the next morning, police chiefs suspended Hill indefinitely.

GM Brett Veach said Hill will not participate in any team activities “for the foreseeable future.” Chiefs CEO and chairman Clark Hunt broke his silence on the saga on Saturday, saying the team will “make the right decision … at the right time.”

The NFL did not intervene at that time.

“We're not going to get involved,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told the media in late May. He added that the league had not yet interviewed Hill due to the ongoing legal proceedings, but that it intends to do so.

On June 7, 2019, prosecutors announced that the child abuse investigation into Hill was no longer ongoing, confirming that Hill would not be charged. Later that month, Yahoo! Sports reported that Hill had scheduled a meeting with the NFL. That meeting on June 26 reportedly lasted eight hours.

On July 19, the NFL announced that Hill would not be suspended pending the league's investigation, which a press release said has been ongoing since the saga began, although the NFL claimed it was leaving the matter to local law enforcement.

Kareem Hunt

In February 2018, right after Hunt's sensational rookie season with the Chiefs, a woman told Cleveland police that Hunt “pushed and shoved” her during an argument in a hotel apartment.

She claimed she and a friend were kicked out of Hunt's apartment because she “didn't want” one of the other men in the apartment. Hunt's friend claimed the woman called him and Hunt the “N-word” before the attack, the police report said.

The police said there were “two women with bruises and cuts all over their bodies.” The hotel's security and the police were called, but no charges were filed.

On November 30, 2018, the Chiefs released Hunt from the team after video footage of the altercation was released. The video shows Hunt shoving and kicking the woman, supporting her February claim.

In an interview with ESPN, Hunt admitted that he lied to the Chiefs about the incident.

“The Chiefs are right – I didn't tell them everything,” Hunt said. “I don't blame them. This was caused by my actions. I know it's going to be tough. I made a bad decision and I'm not going to let it get me down.”

Hunt was suspended for eight games on March 15, 2019, for the incident. He did not appeal the ban and returned to play for the Browns, who signed him as a free agent in February 2019. And he returned to the Chiefs' practice squad in 2024.

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Frank Clark

Like Hill, Clark's problems began before his time with the Chiefs.

During his time at the University of Michigan, the linebacker had two incidents investigated by police. First, he pleaded guilty to second-degree aggravated burglary in September 2012 after stealing a laptop from another student's room.

In November 2014, the Detroit Free Press reported that Clark was arrested in Erie County, Ohio, on domestic violence charges. The police report said Clark punched his girlfriend in the face, grabbed her by the neck and threw her to the ground, pushed her against the wall, and pinned her to a bed.

He eventually pleaded guilty to disturbing the peace, but the assault charge was dropped. Michigan dismissed him from its program.

Despite the incident in college, Clark was selected by the Seahawks in the second round of the 2015 NFL Draft and later traded to the Chiefs in 2019.

As a member of Kansas City, Clark was suspended two games during the 2022 season for violating the league's rules of conduct. The discipline stemmed from a June 2021 incident in which he was arrested for possession of a concealed firearm. Clark pleaded no contest to two counts of minor possession of an assault weapon last month. He was sentenced to one year of probation and 40 hours of community service.

Justin Cox

Cox went undrafted in 2015 but signed with the Chiefs in the offseason, but his time in Kansas City was short-lived.

Police released Cox on July 21, 2015, after he was arrested on charges of burglary, aggravated domestic violence, and trespassing in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi.

It wasn't the first problem involving Cox, who played at Mississippi State University. He was arrested in November 2014 on charges of aggravated domestic violence and burglary. Mississippi State suspended Cox for the final three games of the season, but the charges were later dropped.

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Matt Araiza

Araiza was originally drafted by the Bills in 2022 after a successful college career at San Diego State University, but he was released from the team before the start of the 2022 season due to allegations of gang rape against the punter.

The punter was accused of raping a 17-year-old girl while at San Diego State. He, along with two other SDSU teammates, was accused of attacking the girl at an off-campus party in 2021.

Araiza was acquitted by the San Diego District Attorney's Office last December. The prosecutor's office said it would not file charges against Araiza and other SDSU players in connection with the incident after new details of the case emerged.

“Ultimately, prosecutors concluded that the evidence clearly did not support a charge and there was no path to a potential conviction,” prosecutors said in a statement. “Prosecutors can only bring charges if they are ethically convinced that this can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.”

The prosecution stated that despite the victim's claims to the contrary, Araiza was no longer present at the party when the alleged incident occurred. Sex videos of the plaintiff during the incident were released, and Araiza was not seen in any of the recordings.

Araiza filed a defamation lawsuit against his accuser in July 2023, but the two sides agreed to drop both lawsuits against each other.

After he did not play in 2023, the Chiefs signed Araiza in the 2024 offseason.

Isaiah Buggs

Buggs signed with the Chiefs in the 2024 offseason, but never appeared in a game due to several legal incidents in the offseason.

The defensive player was arrested on June 16, 2024, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, for domestic violence and burglary. He had previously been charged with two counts of second-degree animal cruelty on May 30 in Tuscaloosa.

According to the civil complaint filed in Tuscaloosa County District Court, two dogs – a pit bull and a Rottweiler mix – were found “severely malnourished, emaciated and neglected” in an “abandoned-looking home.” Buggs also allegedly left them “with no access to food or water.”

The Chiefs released him on June 24, 2024.

Rashee Rice

Rice was involved in a hit-and-run accident in Dallas on March 30, 2024, when he allegedly drove into another driver. Several people were injured in the incident, but no one was killed. Several occupants of the vehicles, including Rice, left the scene of the accident on foot.

“I take full responsibility for my part in this matter,” Rice said in his first public comments after the crash.

A week after his encounter with police, Rice was charged with eight counts – one count of aggravated assault, one count of collision causing serious bodily harm and six counts of collision causing personal injury.

He turned himself in the next day and the case is still open.

A few weeks later, Rice was investigated by Dallas police for an alleged assault on a photographer in May. The Chiefs receiver was accused of punching a photographer at a nightclub on May 6, 2024, but the victim did not press charges, calling the altercation a “misunderstanding.”