The Chiefs will be without one of their defensive ends for a while. Charles Omenihu received a six-game suspension Friday, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets.
Omenihu, who signed with the Chiefs in March, was arrested on a misdemeanor domestic violence charge in January. While Omenihu played out the season with the 49ers, he will be in line to miss a chunk of his first Chiefs campaign.
Suspended under the NFL’s personal conduct policy, Omenihu will be eligible to complete Kansas City’s training camp and preseason. But he will not be able to rejoin the team until Week 7. The Chiefs signed the former 49ers auxiliary rusher to a two-year, $16MM deal. This suspension puts the $8.6MM guaranteed Omenihu received at risk.
The arrest occurred after a woman told police her boyfriend, Omenihu, pushed her to the ground during an argument. The 25-year-old defender was booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail. This came days before the NFC championship game. With the NFL still conducting its investigation, Omenihu played 38 defensive snaps in the 49ers’ loss to the Eagles. The arrest also did not do too much to minimize Omenihu’s market, with it requiring an $8.6MM guarantee — more than Leonard Floyd or ex-Chief Frank Clark received when they eventually found new homes — to complete the signing. But this suspension could void that guarantee.
The Chiefs have not been afraid to take risks on players with checkered pasts, as the Clark trade and Tyreek Hill draft choice best illustrate. The Chiefs also gave cornerbacks DeAndre Baker and Damon Arnette their first opportunities after off-field incidents led to each becoming available. Clark, who had a domestic violence incident in his past prior to his NFL career, played four seasons with the Chiefs but found himself a cap casualty this offseason. Received a two-game suspension last year after being arrested twice on gun charges in 2021, Clark played four seasons with the Chiefs following the 2019 blockbuster trade. Clark has since signed with the Broncos.
Since acquiring Omenihu from the Texans before the 2021 trade deadline, the 49ers used him as one of their Nick Bosa sidekicks. Omenihu recorded 1.5 sacks during the 2021 postseason and dropped Geno Smith twice during the 49ers’ wild-card win over the Seahawks last year. During the 2022 regular season, Omenihu registered 4.5 sacks and totaled 16 quarterback hits. When the suspension ends, he will be expected to team with recent first-round picks George Karlaftis and Felix Anudike-Uzomah on Kansas City’s Chris Jones-fronted defensive line.
Carlos Dunlap served as Clark’s top D-end complementary piece in Kansas City last season. With an Omenihu ban long expected, the Chiefs may be considering re-signing the 13-year veteran. Dunlap joins Jadeveon Clowney, Robert Quinn and multiple ex-Chiefs — Justin Houston and Melvin Ingram — as the top edge defenders available. The defending Super Bowl champions also roster Mike Danna, a 2020 fifth-round pick who tallied five sacks last season, as a veteran piece alongside its recent first-round investments.
He pushed a woman to the ground and got a 6 game suspension. Alvin Kamara fractured a man’s eye socket and got a 3 game suspension. smh
That’s Goodell’s legacy to me. No law/rules. Stuff made up on the fly. Famous players, light suspensions. Backup’s harsher rulings.
Idk what the solution for this is. A council of punishment made up of former players front office people and officials?
Something that’s consistent. That’s for starters. Judges have guidelines to follow pending the type of charge(s) right? Why not pro leagues?
Oh gawd! The NFL is already a bureaucratic behemoth so we don’t need more of that. Back in the day when football people ran the league instead of lawyers, things were simpler. The veteran leaders on teams did the policing and players who did stupid things that hurt the team got put on notice that if they didn’t smarten up they would be cut from the roster.
Those “football people” included Pete Rozelle, who looked out of his depth while the league got all coked up during the 1980s.
Gene Klein sold the San Diego Chargers in part because of the drug-fueled atmosphere that the NFL embraced.
Well, gender matters in the court of public opinion, which is all these punishments are for, anyway.
And Kamara’s a star, so there’s that.
How many genders does it take to get to the center of a tootsie roll pop? One… two…
It would be a great bookend to Houston’s career. He should be affordable, too.