KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - The Kansas City Chiefs waived defensive tackle Roy Miller on Monday, two days after he was arrested in Florida and accused of assaulting his wife during an argument at their home.
Miller signed a $1.4 million, one-year contract this past offseason, and was expected to help a porous run defense. But he only appeared in seven of the Chiefs’ first nine games.
According to the police report, Miller had left Nicole Miller at the Jacksonville Zoo after going there for a date Friday night. When both of them got home, Miller was gone, and an argument began when he returned. The 6-foot-1, 300-pound lineman grabbed his wife by the hair and pushed her around, and the police report details several minor injuries.
Miller also threw her phone in a toilet and tried to keep her from calling police, the report said, before barricading himself in a bedroom with one of her sons.
Police found Miller asleep in the bedroom. He agreed to speak with an officer outside the home, and was subsequently arrested. Nicole Miller declined to provide a written statement.
Miller appeared in court Saturday and was released on his own recognizance. He’s due back Nov. 28.
The Chiefs said the day of the incident they were aware of it and gathering more facts. The team then announced Miller had been waived shortly before coach Andy Reid spoke to reporters Monday.
“I can’t really comment from a legal standpoint,” said Reid, whose team was off last week. “I understand you might ask, but you’re going to get the same answer.”
From a football standpoint, the decision to cut Miller left the Chiefs thin across the defensive line. They have backup defensive tackles Rakeem Nunez-Roches and Jarvis Jenkins, but Reid acknowledged that general manager Brett Veach had spent the weekend considering options.
“We had (Nunez-Roches) do it last year and did it some this year. We’d be OK there,” Reid said, “but we probably need to look into that, which I’m sure will happen relatively quickly.”
The Chiefs wound up signing Cam Thomas, who spent training camp with them, later in the day.
The Chiefs, at 6-3 and atop the AFC West, are already in game-week preparations for Sunday’s trip to face the New York Giants. Their big install days are Wednesday and Thursday, which means they still have time to juggle personnel groups ahead of their game at the Meadowlands.
The Chiefs also made a couple of practice squad moves Monday, waiving wide receiver Amba Etta-Tawo and offensive lineman Nick Becton and signing cornerback Will Redmond and wide receiver Devin Lucien.
Reid also acknowledged interest in signing tight end Martellus Bennett, who was waived by the Green Bay Packers. Bennett ultimately returned to the New England Patriots.
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