The 2020 NFL Draft will forever live in infamy for Las Vegas Raiders fans.
While many teams picked up young stars from that class, the Raiders were an organization that ended up significantly burned as a result of their selections.
With the first of their two first-round selections, the Raiders picked Alabama wide receiver Henry Ruggs. He lasted less than two seasons in the NFL due to a November 2021 car crash that took the life of a 23-year-old woman.
The second pick would be used to select Ohio State cornerback Damon Arnette, whose tenure with the Raiders was just as short and tumultuous.
After being out of football since 2022, however, Arnette is preparing for a return to the sport, with the United Football League’s Houston Roughnecks announcing that they had signed the cornerback to a contract for the upcoming season.
“The United Football League today announced cornerback Damon Arnette has signed with the Houston Roughnecks for the 2025 UFL season,” the team said in a news release. “Arnette’s signing was announced in the latest transactions by the United Football League today.”
Arnette’s stint with the Raiders also ended in November 2021, when the team released him after a video of him brandishing multiple firearms and threatening someone appeared on Instagram. Later on, Ian Rapoport revealed that Arnette had also crashed four rental cars in the span of a month during his rookie season.
There were troubling off-the-field signs everywhere for #Raiders first-rounder Damon Arnette. For instance: In his first year in the NFL, Arnette crashed four rental cars within roughly a month, sources said. Now, after a tumultuous weekend including online threats, he’s out.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) November 8, 2021
Arnette would try and stick around in the NFL, but subsequent legal troubles all but ended his chances of a comeback. He was arrested twice in 2022 for charges of assault with a deadly weapon, carrying a concealed weapon without a permit and being pulled over twice while driving on a suspended license.
His most recent arrest was earlier this year, when he was charged with possession of methamphetamine and unlawful carrying of a firearm in February.
Despite all of these issues, Arnette has somehow found his way back into the world of professional football. The only hope is that he can stay out of trouble this time around.
