Former Raiders first-round pick Damon Arnette indicted, facing serious jail time

A grand jury indicted former Raiders cornerback Damon Arnette, a first-rounder from 2020, with assault with a deadly weapon and a firearm charge.

The alleged incident that triggered this legal drama happened Jan. 28, 2022 in Las Vegas. Police say that Arnette lost his valet ticket, so he pulled a gun and threatened the valet. Police then arrested Arnette on charges of carrying a concealed weapon without a permit and assault with a deadly weapon. Plus, there were two drug charges. However, 8 News Now reported that the Clark County district attorney dropped the charges against Arnette last summer. But then they flipped the information to a grand jury for possible indictment.

The Raiders selected two players in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft. Both got into legal issues severe enough to prompt their releases from the team.

Henry Ruggs, a wide receiver from Alabama, recently accepted a plea deal that could send him to prison for up to 10 years. In early November, 2021, he was driving his Corvette at a high rate of speed and crashed his sports car into the back of a young woman’s SVU. The impact pushed the car forward and caused it to burst into flames. The woman and her dog died in the fire.

Meanwhile, that same month the Raiders released Arnette, a former Ohio State star, after a video of Arnette went viral. In the video, you could see Arnette flashing a gun and threatening to kill someone. The two 2020 first-rounders saw their careers with the Raiders end within a matter of days.

Arnette’s legal issues continued to grow. Last summer, when he was in Florida, he was pulled over twice by police in the same night. In the first stop, the cops ticketed Arnette for driving on a suspended license. The same police pulled him over again three hours later. Police searched his car and found what they thought was cocaine in a pink baggie. The cops also reported finding other drug paraphernelia.

Plus, Arnette was sued in a hit-and-run crash that occurred six months after the Raiders drafted him. There also was another incident with a valet, March 28, 2021. That case was dismissed.

He never really played for the Raiders after the team used such a lofty pick (he was 19th). He spent a chunk of his rookie season on injured reserve. By 2021, he found himself on the reserve list with a groin injury. Then the Raiders released him because of the video. Arnette signed a contract with the Dolphins, but the team never promoted him from the practice squad.

The Chiefs then cut him a week after signing him in January, 2022.