HOUSTON -- The Texans have signed cornerback Damon Arnette to a one-year deal as the 2020 first-round pick looks to make his return to the NFL following numerous legal issues, sources told ESPN on Wednesday.
Arnette most recently was in the UFL, playing for the Houston Roughnecks in 2025.
The signing comes shortly after, on June 10, a Colorado federal judge ordered Arnette to pay more than $78,000 to a dancer who said he assaulted her at a March 2023 house party. Arnette was accused of striking the woman and smashing her head into the ground.
A first-round pick by the Las Vegas Raiders out of Ohio State, Arnette was released in the November 2021 season after playing a combined 13 games over two seasons while facing a lawsuit for an alleged hit-and-run and after a video surfaced of Arnette making death threats while brandishing firearms.
The Dolphins signed Arnette to their practice squad in December 2021, but he never appeared in any games and wasn't re-signed by Miami in the offseason. The Kansas City Chiefs signed him to a futures contract on Jan. 20, 2022, but he was released Jan. 29 after he was jailed in Las Vegas on two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, carrying or concealing a gun without a permit, possession of a controlled substance, and possession of marijuana or cannabis.
The January 2022 case was dropped by the Clark County District Attorney's Office, but in May 2023, a grand jury indicted Arnette on assault with a deadly weapon and firearm-related charges related to the incident. Arnette agreed to a plea deal.
Arnette, who hadn't signed with an NFL team since the Chiefs, has found himself in additional legal trouble since that contract.
In July 2022, Arnette was arrested in Miami on charges of possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and driving with a suspended license. In January 2024, Arnette was arrested and charged with possession of less than a gram of meth and unlawful carrying of a firearm in Richardson, Texas.
Arnette reportedly entered a diversion program for the Miami charges. His lawyers said at the time of the Texas arrest that it was due to Arnette being unable to provide a prescription for a lawful medication.
The Texans told ESPN they have "no comment" regarding Arnette's legal history.