Plenty of players in the UFL have spent some time in the NFL and most of them would like to get back in the league, but few of them squandered the kind of opportunity that cornerback Damon Arnette did.
Arnette was a Raiders first-round pick in 2020 and he was released in November 2021 when video of him making threats while carrying firearms surfaced. He signed with the Chiefs in January 2022, but was released a little more than a week later after being arrested for charges that included assault with a deadly weapon.
Further legal issues cropped up over the last couple of years and Arnette was out of football until he signed with the UFL’s Houston Roughnecks ahead of their 2025 season. He has 18 tackles, a sack, and a 51-yard interception return for a touchdown and his play has led some NFL teams to reach out to the Roughnecks to gather information about the corner. Arnette says that the good play is a result of the growing up he’s done over the last few years.
“With coaches, I feel like I’ve proved a complete turnaround,” Arnette said, via Aaron Wilson of KPRC. “All the coaches that have been with me right now, I feel like their words would be more valuable because I’ve said a lot of things in the past. What I would say is what they see on film, that’s me being out of commission for three years. I’m a dawg on the field. I’m more of a professional now than I ever was before. I wasn’t a professional before. I was just a dawg. I found professionalism and a calm state of mind. I feel like I’m the best version of myself that I’ve ever been.”
The UFL season is winding down and we’ll see if Arnette finds a spot on a 90-man roster heading into the summer. If he does, he could be an unlikely comeback story for the 2025 season.
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