The Chiefs have experienced an immense amount of success under head coach Andy Reid. Since "Big Red" took over the team in 2013, Kansas City has won three Super Bowls, made four Super Bowl appearances and won the most games in the NFL.
That is a testament to Reid's coaching, as well as the talents of former quarterback Alex Smith and current superstar QB Patrick Mahomes.
Yet winning isn't the only thing that can be associated with the Chiefs. The organization has a history of players with legal issues, whether before or during their time with Kansas City.
Here is more on the Chiefs history with such troubled players during Reid's coaching tenure.
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Chiefs history with troubled players
Tyreek Hill
Hill's controversy started before he reached NFL level.
After a couple seasons at Garden City Community College, Hill elected to play Division-I football at Oklahoma State in 2014. But he would play just one season for the Cowboys due to his arrest on domestic violence charges.
Crystal Espinal, Hill's girlfriend who was eight weeks pregnant with his child, told police an argument late on the night of Dec. 12, 2014, at Hill's home escalated to physical violence. Espinal alleged Hill had choked her and punched her in the stomach and the face.
The wide receiver spent the night in jail and the next day was charged with felony domestic assault and battery by strangulation. The same day, Oklahoma State announced it had dismissed Hill from the football and track programs.
Hill initially pled not guilty. In August 2015, represented by a new defense attorney, Hill pleaded guilty to the charges and, thanks to a plea agreement with the district attorney’s office, received three years on probation.
Hill was not invited to the NFL Combine and, due to his 2014 arrest, was not expected to be drafted. But the Chiefs drafted him in the fifth round of the 2016 NFL Draft at No. 165 overall.
"I just want everybody to understand that we have done our due diligence with regards to full vetting each one of our draft-class members," then-general manager John Dorsey said via The Kansas City Star. "We would never put anybody in this community in harm’s way."
The trouble with Hill did not stop there. On March 15, 2019, The Kansas City Star reported Hill was under police investigation for battery involving him and Espinal's 3-year-old son, who had suffered a broken 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 district attorney for Johnson County, Missouri, announced that neither Hill nor Espinal would be charged with child abuse, but that a crime had occurred and the investigation remained active. Early the next morning, the Chiefs suspended Hill indefinitely.
GM Brett Veach said Hill would not take part in any team activities "for the foreseeable future." Chiefs CEO and chairman Clark Hunt broke his silence on the saga that Saturday, saying the team would make the "right decision ... at the right time."
The NFL did not step in at the time.
"We will not interfere with that," NFL commissioner Roger Goodell told media in late May. He added that the league had not yet interviewed Hill, citing the ongoing court proceeding as the reason, but that it planned to do so.
On June 7, 2019, prosecutors said the child abuse probe involving Hill was no longer an active investigation, confirming that Hill would not face charges. Later that month, Yahoo! Sports reported Hill was scheduled to speak with the NFL. That meeting, on June 26, reportedly lasted eight hours.
On July 19, the NFL declared Hill would not be suspended as a result of the league's investigation, which according to a release, had been ongoing since the beginning of the saga despite the NFL's claim it was leaving the matter to local law enforcement.
Kareem Hunt
In Feb. 2018, right after Hunt's sensational rookie season with the Chiefs, a woman told Cleveland police that Hunt "pushed and shoved" her during a dispute in a hotel apartment.
She claimed that she and a friend were kicked out of Hunt's apartment because she "didn't want" one of the other men in the unit. Hunt’s friend claimed that the woman called both him and Hunt the "n-word" before the assault, according to the police report.
A call into the police said that there were "two women that have bruises and cuts all over them." Hotel security was summoned, as well as the police, but no charges were filed.
On Nov. 30, 2018, the Chiefs cut Hunt from the team after video footage of the altercation was released. The video showed Hunt shoving and kicking the woman, backing up her claim from February.
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 for anything. My actions caused this. I know it’s going to be hard. I made a bad choice and I’m not going to let this bring me down."
Hunt was issued an eight-game suspension on March 15, 2019, for the inciden. He did not appeal the ban, but returned to play for the Browns, who signed him as a free agent in February 2019. And in 2024, he rejoined the Chiefs on their practice squad.
MORE: Chiefs RB depth chart with Isiah Pacheco out
Frank Clark
Like Hill, Clark's trouble 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 a felony second-degree home invasion charge in September 2012 after stealing a laptop from another student's dorm room.
In November 2014, The Detroit Free Press reported Clark was jailed in Erie County, Ohio on a domestic violence allegation. The police report alleged that Clark punched his girlfriend in the face, grabbed her throat and slammed to the ground, pushed her against the wall, and pinned her down on a bed.
He eventually pleaded guilty to a charge of disorderly conduct, but had the assault charges dropped. Michigan dismissed him from their program.
Despite the incident in college, Clark was selected in the second round of the 2015 NFL Draft by the Seahawks, and was later traded to the Chiefs in 2019.
As a member of Kansas City, Clark was suspended for two games during the 2022 season for violating the league's personal conduct policy. 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 misdemeanor 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. However, his time in Kansas City was shortlived.
The Chiefs released Cox on July 21, 2015, after Cox was arrested for burglary of a residence, aggravated domestic assault and trespassing in Oktibbeha County, Miss.
It wasn't the first issue with Cox, who played in college at Mississippi State. 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, however those charges were later dropped.
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Matt Araiza
Araiza initially was drafted by the Bills in 2022 following a successful collegiate career at San Diego State University. However, 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 during his time at San Diego State. He was accused, along with two other SDSU teammates, of assaulting the girl at an off-campus party in 2021.
Araiza was cleared by the San Diego District Attorney's office last December. The DA's office said it would not file criminal charges against Araiza and other SDSU players in connection with the incident after new details emerged from the case.
"Ultimately, prosecutors determined it is clear the evidence does not support the filing of criminal charges and there is no path to a potential criminal conviction," the DA's office said in a statement. "Prosecutors can only file charges when they ethically believe they can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt."
Prosecutors said that Araiza was not still present at the party when the alleged incident took place, despite claims to the contrary from the victim. Sex videos of the accuser during the incident were revealed, and Araiza was not seen in any of the footage.
Araiza filed a defamation lawsuit in July 2023 against his accuser in December, but the two sides agreed to drop both lawsuits against one another.
After not playing in 2023, the Chiefs signed Araiza during the 2024 offseason.
Isaiah Buggs
Buggs signed with the Chiefs during the 2024 offseason but never suited up for a game due to multiple legal incidents in the offseason.
The defensive lineman was booked on a domestic violence/burglary charge in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on June 16, 2024. That came after he was charged May 30 with two misdemeanor counts of second-degree animal cruelty in Tuscaloosa as well.
It was alleged that two dogs — a pit bull and a rottweiler mix — were found to be "severely malnourished, emaciated, neglected" at a "residence appearing to be abandoned," according to the civil petition filed in Tuscaloosa County District Court. Buggs also allegedly left "no access to food or water."
The Chiefs released him on June 24, 2024.
Rashee Rice
Rice was involved in a hit-and-run crash in Dallas on March 30, 2024, while allegedly racing another driver. Several people were injured in the incident, however no one was killed. Multiple occupants of the vehicles, including Rice, left the scene on foot.
"I take full responsibility for my part in this matter," Rice said in his first public comments after the crash.
Rice was hit with eight felony charges a week after meeting with police — one count of aggravated assault, one count of collision causing serious bodily injury and six counts of collision involving injuries.
He turned himself in the following day, and the case remains open.
A few weeks later, Rice came under investigation by Dallas police for an alleged assault of a photographer in May. The Chiefs receiver was accused of punching a photographer at a nightclub on May 6, 2024, but no charges were filed by the victim, who called the altercation a "misunderstanding."
