The long, strange tale of former Ole Miss recruit and 1st round draft pick Robert Nkemdiche took another turn this week when he was arrested in Georgia.
According to TMZ, Nkemdiche was suspected of shoplifting in a grocery store when employees saw him stuffing food into his sweatpants.
When authorities eventually caught up to him, he didn’t have any items — they were found spread out around the parking lots at the grocery store and a gas station Nkemdiche was observed walking to. While the grocery store said it did not want to press charges against the 6-foot-3, 300-pound Nkemdiche, when police ran his name through the system, it came back with several warrants.
From TMZ: “According to a police report, obtained by TMZ Sports, the former Arizona Cardinals‘ defensive tackle was exiting a Kroger in Georgia last week … when an officer conducting a business area check says they observed the 31-year-old with ‘many large objects, square and rectangular shapes, consistent with concealed grocery items, inside his sweatpants’ … Officers say they then ran Nkemdiche’s name and found multiple warrants in several states in the system … including three in Georgia. The officer says county officials asked the officer to place a hold on Nkemdiche. The former Ole Miss star was ultimately taken to jail and booked.”
Nkemdiche was the consensus No. 1 overall recruit in the Class of 2013 when he signed with Ole Miss — just the 4th player to earn the honor after fellow 1st round picks Vince Young, Ernie Sims, and Jadeveon Clowney.
He played 3 seasons there before he was selected by the Arizona Cardinals in the 1st round (No. 29 overall) of the 2016 NFL draft.
Nkemdiche’s Long History of Bizarre Arrests
This wasn’t the 1st time Nkemdiche has run afoul of the law.
On December 15, 2015, just 2 weeks before Ole Miss was set to play Oklahoma State in the Sugar Bowl, Nkemdiche busted through the window of his hotel room on the 4th floor of the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Atlanta.
Nkemdiche plummeted 15 feet, crashed into a ledge, then fell another 15 feet to the ground, where emergency services found him unconscious. Upon inspection of his hotel room, police found 7 rolled marijuana blunts, and Nkemdiche was charged with drug possession.
Ole Miss suspended Nkemdiche for the Sugar Bowl, but he chose to leave school for the NFL draft.
The arrest on outstanding warrants was the 3rd time Nkemdiche has been arrested in the last year. In March 2025, after Nkemdiche allegedly threatened the manager of a bowling alley in Kennesaw, Georgia, police found him in his car in the parking lot and arrested him for DUI, driving with a suspended license disorderly conduct, and driving without proof of insurance.
In July 2025, Nkemdiche was arrested for allegedly shoplifting a bottle of wine in Buford, Georgia.
Nkemdiche’s NFL Dreams Never Panned Out
Nkemdiche’s promise as an NFL star never panned out — he didn’t even register his 1st sack until his 3rd NFL season in 2018. He played 6 seasons for 4 teams before ending his time in the NFL on the San Francisco 49ers practice squad in 2022 with approximately $13.8 million in career earnings.
Nkemdiche spent 1 season with the UFL’s Michigan Panthers before playing 1 season in the Indoor Football League with the Jacksonville Sharks.
His professional career ended with 1 season in the CFL with the Edmonton Eskimos in 2024.
History-Making Ole Miss Recruit & Former 1st Round Pick Arrested in Georgia