Seattle Seahawks offensive lineman Chad Wheeler was arrested early Saturday morning on suspicion of felony assault and domestic violence, according to online court records as reported by ESPN. Wheeler is accused of assaulting a woman at an apartment in the Seattle area. The Seattle Times obtained the police report, which said Wheeler is accused of throwing the woman on a bed, strangling her before she lost consciousness and picking the lock on a door to the bathroom, where she had fled to call 911.
ESPN states the incident began when Wheeler asked the woman to bow to him. The report said Wheeler has bipolar disorder and had not been taking his medication. Wheeler was released from King County Jail on Tuesday morning on a $400,000 bail bond. ESPN contacted the Seahawks, and the team said, ” We are aware of the situation and still gathering information.”
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Wheeler, 27, appeared in five games for the Seahawks in 2020. He joined the team in 2019 as a member of the practice squad. Wheeler was elevated to the active roster in January 2020 but was waived by the team in September. He then signed back with the Seahawks the following day and spent time on the practice squad and active roster throughout the entire year.
Wheeler signed with the New York Giants in 2017 as an undrafted free agent. In his rookie season, Wheeler appeared in 11 games with five starts. in 2018, Wheeler became the full-time starter at right tackle and started 14 games. He was waived by the Giants before the start of the 2019 season.
“When I go to Art Shell, ‘Big’ Bob Brown, or Ron Mix or Jonathan Ogden, all of these guys are very conscientious, they don’t want to let anybody down, and they want to be successful,” Hall of Fame offensive lineman Jackie Slater told the New York Daily News in 2017 when talking about Wheeler. “And when I saw Chad, it was the same thing I saw when I visited those men in Canton. I’m not putting him in the same echelon with those guys. He’s got a long way to go. But you’ve got to have a strong drive to be successful and be dominant to even attempt to do these things. And Chad has that.”
