In 2020, the Las Vegas Raiders were coming off a 7-9 season, good for a third-place finish in the AFC West. They were attempting to improve their record in their first season in Las Vegas following their move from Oakland.
With their defense in need of a star cornerback, the Raiders used their first-round pick in the 2020 NFL draft (No. 19 overall) on Ohio State’s Damon Arnette, who was coming off a Second-team All-Big Ten final season with the Buckeyes.
Unfortunately, just 13 games into his professional career, Las Vegas released Arnette after he posted videos on social media where he was making death threats with a firearm in his hands.
Since then, Arnette had short stints with the Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs in 2021 and 2022, but he’s yet to step back on an NFL field.
In December, Arnette inked a deal with the UFL’s Houston Roughnecks and has appeared in seven games for the team this season, recording 18 tackles, five passes defensed, one sack and a pick-six.
Speaking recently with KPRC2’s Aaron Wilson, Arnette discussed his return to football.
“It’s easy for me to stay in the moment because. I had to work so hard to get here,” Arnette said. “Just being able to play football again, on any level, is the best opportunity and best gift that God could have rewarded me with with all the right decisions that I feel like I’ve been making. I didn’t want anything but a Gatorade squirt bottle and a helmet. When I talked to coach CJ, when he said that I can finally come back. I was like, ‘Man, I just want a Gatorade bottle. I haven’t used a Gatorade Squirt bottle in a long time.’
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“It’s just the little things about the game that you miss the most, that you take for granted. So, it’s easy for me to stay in the moment. That’s all I’m thinking about right now, is this game and then the game after that, and the game after that. I want to win this whole thing for coach CJ because I just feel like I’m a part of this family right now and this is the only thing that matters to me.”
Arnette may not be focused on making it back to the league at this moment, but his secondary coach, Brett Maxie, believes he’s setting himself up for an opportunity this offseason.
“Right now I’m seeing what I anticipated,” Maxie said. “When I knew he was going to be a part of our team, he’s a former first-round draftee, and that’s what a former first-round draft pick is. They make plays very confidently. And he’s an unbelievably talented athlete. He’s doing all the right things to put himself in position to get back to the NFL. And he belongs there. He really belongs there. He’s one of the first guys in the building because I’m like the first guy in the building, he’s the first player I see every morning.
“I see great things happening for him after this season. I’m certainly pulling for him in every direction that I possibly can. He’s been first-class. He’s gonna earn it. And I think he’s going to appreciate it more now than he did four years ago after he was drafted. We all have our seasons in our lives. He’s going to benefit from the things he’s learning now. He’s been around good people. Not very many people get a second chance. And he’s doing it at the right age where he’s still athletically gifted and plays the position at a very, very high level.”
If Arnette earns snaps in the NFL in 2025, it will be the first time he’s done so since 2021. While obviously the cornerback hasn’t made the best decisions in his life, that story would be remarkable.
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