What Chiefs’ Brett Veach said about Miami star Rueben Bain Jr.’s 2024 car accident
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Veach said the Chiefs were probably aware of the 2024 accident at the season's start.
- Chiefs discussed Bain at camp, spent time with him at Combine, and hosted a top-30 visit.
- Veach said Chiefs conduct due diligence evaluating players on-field and off-field records.
Many NFL fans were surprised over the weekend to learn of a 2024 car accident involving former Miami defensive end Rueben Bain Jr.
Bain was driving on a Miami Interstate when his car hit another vehicle and then crashed into a concrete barrier on the side of the road, per a Read Optional story.
Destiny Betts, a 22-year-old college student from Georgia, was one of four passengers in Bain’s car. She was seriously injured in the crash and fell into a coma, that story said, and died three months later. A second passenger also was injured and went to the hospital, Read Optional reported.
That story was big news to most football fans, but not to NFL teams.
Chiefs general manager Brett Veach said the team discussed Bain, who is seen as a top-10 pick in next week’s NFL Draft, at training camp in St. Joseph last summer. That included talk of the 2024 accident.
“We were probably aware of that at the start of the season,” Veach said. “It happened, obviously, a few years ago, and when we’re at St. Joe, before our scouts leave, we always get together and kind of review some of the top prospects. And that was something that we started that process a year ago.”
The Chiefs spoke with Bain at the NFL Combine, and he made a top 30 visit to Kansas City.
Veach said the Chiefs look at all aspects of a player, whether that’s the football side or their personal lives.
“It’s our responsibility to do our due diligence and fully vet each player as always and, like with any case, we do so with the understanding that all these cases are different and unique,” Veach said. “And this is our job, and this is the most important part of our job, is really getting the player right. And the whole body of work, what he does on the field, what he does off the field. And so I think we just approach it with every case is unique and different.
“But again, that’s something that above all is the most important part of what we do. You know, how these guys are going to come in here, and they have to be successful on the field, but also off the field. So it’s part of the process. Needless to say, we spent a lot of time with him at the Combine, brought him here, had a lot of meetings with a lot of different people. And that process is consistent with not just him, but with all of our players that we bring in here and that we have on our draft board.”
