Miles Sanders Faces DUI Charge From June Highway Incident, Still Unsigned Ahead of 2026 Season

Court records unsealed in recent weeks show former Philadelphia Eagles and Carolina Panthers running back Miles Sanders was arrested on DUI and careless driving charges after a June 8 incident on a Pennsylvania highway, according to CBS Pittsburgh, which first reported details from the criminal complaint.

Police in Churchill Borough, about 10 miles outside Pittsburgh, responded to a report of a vehicle stopped in the middle of William Penn Highway near Beulah Road. When an officer approached the silver Lexus, Sanders was found slumped over in the driver's seat, according to the complaint cited by CBS Pittsburgh and confirmed by WPXI.

Officers said they made several attempts to wake him. Sanders appeared to be "in and out of consciousness" and "extremely lethargic," according to the complaint. Police said his eyes were glossy and his breath smelled of alcohol, and that he admitted to drinking earlier that day.

WPXI reported additional detail on the field sobriety tests: Sanders failed to count his steps aloud during the walk-and-turn test and only completed seven steps on the first pass. On the one-leg stand test, he put his foot down after three seconds. On the horizontal gaze nystagmus test, police said he showed six out of six possible clues of intoxication. A portable breath test came back positive for alcohol.

Court records also show police found a sealed package of suspected marijuana products inside the vehicle. Sanders refused a chemical test, according to WPXI. He was 29 at the time of the arrest, according to CBS Pittsburgh and most other outlets; the Sunday Guardian's report gives his age as 28, but the weight of court-record reporting says 29.

Sanders' attorney, Phil DiLucente, gave the same brief statement to KDKA-TV that has run across multiple outlets: "This is a private matter that has not even reached the preliminary hearing stage and there will be no further comment." DiLucente has not disputed any specific fact in the complaint. Sanders is due back in court in September.

No conviction has occurred. A DUI charge is an allegation, not a finding of guilt, and the case has not yet reached a preliminary hearing. Police reports and criminal complaints reflect the arresting officers' account, and Sanders has not yet had his case tested in court.

A career that had already stalled

The arrest lands at a rough moment for Sanders' career regardless of how the legal case resolves. He broke out with the Eagles as a 2019 second-round pick, setting rookie franchise records for rushing yards and yards from scrimmage. His best season came in 2022, when he rushed for 1,269 yards and 11 touchdowns and earned a Pro Bowl nod as Philadelphia reached Super Bowl LVII.

That production got him a four-year, $25 million deal from the Carolina Panthers in 2023. It didn't work out. Sanders ran for just 432 yards in his first Panthers season as Chuba Hubbard took over the starting job, then fell to 205 yards on 55 carries in 2024 while Hubbard racked up 1,195 yards and 10 touchdowns, according to Heavy.com. Carolina signed Hubbard to an extension and released Sanders in March 2025.

Sanders caught on with the Dallas Cowboys for the 2025 season and looked efficient in a reserve role, rushing for 117 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries. But the season ended after four games. Dallas placed him on injured reserve in October 2025 with knee and ankle issues that required chondral tissue graft surgery, according to the Sunday Guardian.

He has since worked out for the Las Vegas Raiders, per the Sunday Guardian, but remains unsigned. With the 2026 season roughly two weeks out, per the Daily Mail's reporting, an NFL team would now have to weigh an open DUI case alongside a recovering knee and a track record that's cratered since he left Philadelphia.

What's left unresolved

The case's next checkpoint is Sanders' September court date, where the preliminary hearing is expected to move forward. Whether any team signs him before or after that hearing is an open question none of the reporting answers. So is what specific outcome NFL discipline could bring: the league's Personal Conduct Policy allows for potential suspension over DUI arrests independent of the criminal case's outcome, but no team has signed Sanders and the league has not announced any action tied to this arrest.