The Chiefs have seen their fair share of legal issues with coaches and players in recent years. They won’t escape such issues this offseason as Chloe Godding of KMBC News reports that the team’s cornerbacks coach, David Merritt, has been arrested on suspicion of domestic battery.
Merritt was arrested Wednesday evening by an officer of the Overland Park Police Department on the Kansas side of the border. He has reportedly been charged of misdemeanor domestic battery, though no details explaining the nature of the charge were provided to the media. Merritt had the opportunity to plead not guilty in court today and has been scheduled to return to court for a hearing June 24. Per Godding, the Chiefs are aware of the arrest but have not made comment.
Merritt’s NFL career started as a player after getting drafted as a seventh-round linebacker out of North Carolina State in 1993. He only appeared in four games as a rookie with the Dolphins, who drafted him, spending the rest of the year with the Phoenix Cardinals. His playing career in the NFL came to a quick end after three years in the league. He attempted a short move to play for a team with NFL Europe, but ultimately returned stateside to begin his coaching career.
Merritt started coaching at the collegiate level but elevated at a fast pace to an NFL job after stops at Tennessee-Chattanooga and Virginia Military Institute. He began in the league as a defensive assistant and linebackers coach with the Jets. Merritt then spent 14 years with the Giants, starting as a defensive assistant & quality control coach and working up to a role as secondary coach & safeties coach, a role he held for 12 years. After his time in New York came to an end, he spent a year with the Cardinals as defensive backs coach before landing at his next long-term stop in Kansas City as defensive backs coach.
In the past seven years with the Chiefs, Merritt has coached multiple secondaries that routinely finished in the top half of the league in pass defense. It’s unclear if this new legal situation will do anything to prevent him from participating with Kansas City this season. We should hear more later on in the summer.
Thankfully he works for the team that gets great leniency from law enforcement
How can team management or coaching not be held responsible for the way the coaching staff or the players act?
This organization is a joke with discipline.