According to TMZ,<\/a> the law was called when store employees noticed that Nkemdiche had concealed multiple items in his pants and then walked out of the store. An officer was already outside conducting a business area check when Nkemdiche exited. According to the police report, the officer stated that Nkemdiche had \u201cmany large objects, square and rectangular shapes, consistent with concealed grocery items, inside his sweatpants.\u201d<\/p>\n Backup was called on the 31-year old former defensive tackle as Nkemdiche walked to a nearby gas station once he noticed police. The officer then made contact with him, detained Nkemdiche, and immediately placed him in handcuffs as an investigation began into the incident.<\/p>\n Yes, he was detained for \u201cgroceries in his pants.\u201d<\/p>\n When the officer cuffed and searched Nkemdiche, he no longer had any food products in his sweatpants. When backup arrived, a search of the area in which Nkemdiche had gone revealed that the officers found many Kroger food items, such as almond milk, frozen food, and candy bars.<\/p>\n With Nkemdiche still detained, officers attempted to return the food items, but the store stated all of it was perishable and could not be restocked. Kroger declined to press theft charges, but wanted Nkemdiche to be criminally trespassed from that particular store.<\/p>\n After getting an accurate ID from Nkemdiche, police then discovered that he had multiple warrants in several states, including three in Georgia alone which were all charges of failure to appear. The local police then requested a hold on Nkemdiche until further investigation and kept him in the back of a police cruiser. Eventually, he was taken to jail and booked.<\/p>\n Getty Images<\/p>\n Nkemdiche is no stranger to the law. In 2015, he was busted for drug possession (weed) after an incident when he fell from a hotel\u2019s fourth-floor window.<\/a> In 2019, he was pulled over for speeding and arrested while driving with a suspended license. In March of 2025, he was arrested on an incident where he allegedly threatened multiple people at a bowling alley in Union City, Georgia. Several months later, Nkemdiche was arrested for shoplifting a bottle of wine<\/a> from a convenience store in Buford, Georgia.<\/p>\n In high school, Nkemdiche was voted the Gwinnett Daily Post \u201cDefensive Player of the Year\u201d in 2011. He had a laundry list of top-flight schools that offered him a scholarship, and then attended Ole Miss for three years before declaring early for the 2016 NFL draft. The Cardinals selected him late in the first round.<\/p>\n The Cardinals signed Nkemdiche to a four-year, $8.60 million contract that included $8.15 million guaranteed. His signing bonus was $4.45 million. In his three years with Arizona, he played in 27 games with six starts. Not exactly what the coaching staff had in mind when they took him in Round 1. 44 total tackles, 4.5 sacks, two batted passes, and 10 hits is what Arizona got for their money for the three-year span.<\/p>\n In the summer of 2019, the Cardinals waived him with a failed physical designation one day after he arrived for training camp, vastly out of shape. At the time, Arizona head coach Kliff Kingsbury stated:<\/p>\n \u201cNot in shape, I guess. And that\u2019s kind of where we\u2019ll leave it. I mean, he\u2019s on [the physically unable to perform list], and he\u2019s working through that. When he is cleared, we\u2019ll work with him. It\u2019s just a performance-based business, and we decided as an organization that it was best for us. We wish him well and hope he gets a fresh start somewhere else. And that\u2019s really all it came down to.\u201d<\/p>\n This came one month after Nkemdiche had been arrested for driving on a suspended license and excessive speed.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/gettyimages-525782502.jpg\"\/)
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