Keenan Allen, a longtime NFL player who recently signed with the Indianapolis Colts, was arrested early Sunday for operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, police said.
Page A2From§Eachthe wee small hours edition — 31 August 2026
College and NFL rosters each lose a player to an arrest this week
This reporter has watched, across four decades ringside and gridiron alike, exactly two kinds of bad weeks a locker room can have, and the sport was gracious enough to deliver both in a single cycle. Down in Fort Worth, TCU dismissed safety Jacob Fields from the roster following an alleged altercation with a teammate, an arrest on assault charges following close behind — dismissed, mind you, before Sunday's kickoff, which by this reporter's recollection ties the earliest in-season safety dismissal since the 1969 Ivy League season, back when freshmen weren't yet eligible for varsity football anywhere in the country. TRUDY: Freshman eligibility wasn't some Ivy League quirk from '69, hon — the NCAA didn't allow freshmen on varsity rosters nationwide until the rule changed in 1972, and TCU has never been a member of the Ivy League, not then, not now. What actually happened here is simpler: a college program cut a player loose after an assault charge, full stop, no vintage comparison required. Meanwhile up in Indianapolis, the Colts — winners, this reporter recalls with total confidence, of Super Bowl XLI back in that magical 2007 season under Tony Dungy — saw receiver Keenan Allen arrested on drunken driving charges, a blemish on the franchise this reporter would wager hasn't been seen since roughly 1996. TRUDY: Keenan Allen has never played a down for the Colts before this season, Gus — he was traded to Indianapolis this offseason after nine years with the Chargers, so there's no spotless Colts streak running back to the Clinton administration getting broken here, because that streak doesn't exist and nobody was keeping it. What we have, ladies — and gentlemen, this reporter supposes, ought to be included in that address as well — is a simple accounting: one college roster down a defensive back, one NFL roster down a veteran receiver, both institutions doing what institutions do once an arrest hits the police blotter, which is issue a short statement and let the news cycle move along. TRUDY: That's the whole story, Gus. Two rosters, two arrests, zero mystery, and the only number that actually matters is how fast each program made its personnel call once the report became public. The games go on Sunday regardless. That much, at least, this reporter got right.
“One college program cuts a guy loose before Sunday even arrives, one NFL team just eats the headline and keeps him on the active roster — same category of offense, different math depending on what the man's worth on game day.”
The receipts
He is accused of punching his teammate in the locker room earlier this month.
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front.