On Monday afternoon, a Johnson County Judge accepted a diversion plea deal against Kansas City Chiefs Wide Receiver, Justyn Ross. Even with the deal announced today, Ross remains on the NFL Commissioner’s Exempt List, and for him to return to the practice field, the NFL would need to remove Ross from that list.
With their wide receiving group thin with the injuries to Mecole Hardman and Kadarius Toney, the Chiefs quite likely would be looking to add another receiver via free agency for the remainder of the season. Both Jarvis Landry and former Chief, Sammy Watkins are available, but Ross has the advantage of knowing the offense.
When news broke earlier today regarding the acceptance of the Diversion agreement between all parties, we weren’t sure what that meant. However, according to a report by KMBC TV9 in Kansas City, a diversion interrupts a case following a deal between the defendant and the prosecutor where the prosecutor either dismisses the charges entirely or does not bring any charges at all.
In legal terms, it sounds like Ross’s girlfriend isn’t pressing charges and it was unlikely prosecutors could make a case without her cooperation on the alleged incident.
Thus, Ross gets a second chance to restore his career in Kansas City, and I can’t see why the Chiefs would not give him that chance.
After all, he is under contract for the remainder of this season and in 2024, so he’s not going to be expensive to keep. Further, Kansas City did not have to pay him while on the NFL Commisioners Exempt List, so they did get some partial cap savings.
Ross received a lot of hype this off-season and was brilliant in the pre-season. He made the Chiefs final 53-man roster and contributed a few meaningful snaps before his arrest in October.
During this process, I’m confident the Chiefs did their due diligence with all the parties involved, and if they push the NFL to reinstate him, that means he still has a future in Kansas City. Further, Head Coach, Andy Reid, General Manager, Brett Veach, and Patrick Mahomes had gone out of their way to talk about his extraordinary talents.
After all the young man has already been through hell and back just to get on an NFL field so it would be a shame if he didn’t get another chance to contribute to the Chiefs this season and next.
Stay tuned to Chiefs Blitz.com for more on the Justyn Ross situation.
