Dallas Cowboys kick returner and wide receiver KaVontae Turpin had a gun bouncing about in the back seat of his car while he was speeding through a Texas community over the weekend, according to police.
Allen police said Turpin was zipping along at 97 mph in a 70 mph zone when he was pulled over at 11:49 p.m. on Saturday, according to TMZ.
A police report on the traffic stop said an unholstered 9mm pistol was “in plain view” in the rear of the 2022 Dodge that Turpin was driving.
Police also found under two ounces of marijuana in the vehicle’s center console.
Turpin was jailed on two charges one count of possession of marijuana less than two ounces and one count of unlawful carrying of a weapon. Both counts are misdemeanors.
After spending a few hours in the Collin County Jail, Turpin was released on $1,500 bail on Sunday, according to the New York Post.
Disturbing details uncovered in Cowboys All-Pro KaVontae Turpin’s drug and weapon arrest https://t.co/OXJ5lWnqe5 pic.twitter.com/8BqdqLC0NB
— New York Post (@nypost) July 7, 2025
In an Op-Ed in the Forth Worth Star-Telegram, Mac Engel noted that due to his past, Turpin “comes attached with an invisible alarm clock that you can neither hear nor see. You just know it’s there. That alarm went off, but do not expect the Cowboys to do much about this other than hit ‘snooze.’”
“Turpin has a history of off-the-field issues that ended his career at TCU; those ‘issues’ are why a player of his talent and production went undrafted and forced him to go to football’s minor leagues before making it to the NFL,” he wrote.
Do professional athletes think they are above the law?
“What makes this latest transgression a concern is that it is a continuation of a pattern that Turpin began during his career at TCU; people with the Cowboys, and TCU, hoped that pattern was over.”
Worth noted that during 2018 and 2019 while still at TCU, Turpin was involved in multiple domestic violence and assault incidents that eventually resulted in a guilty plea to a charge of “assault causing bodily injury — family violence.” Turpin went through a two-year deferred adjudication probation.
Turpin was the MVP of the USFL in 2022, then came to the Cowboys where he became a star kick returner.
Dallas recently signed him to a three-year contract. TMZ put the value of the contract at $13.5 million.
“Given the nature of Turpin’s latest offense, it’s doubtful the team will do much of anything. This looks to be one of those that will be handled ‘internally,’ which is a cute way of saying not at all. The Cowboys will hit ‘snooze’ and hope the alarm doesn’t go off again,” Engel wrote.
NBC noted that the charges against Turpin “will trigger potential scrutiny under NFL policies.”
“Marijuana doesn’t result in the same punishment that it once did. However, he’ll likely be subjected to enhanced testing and potential fines for positive tests,” NBC noted.
However, it added, “Suspensions are very rare, and very hard to earn, under the current substance-abuse policy.”
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