Former Bombers QB Max Hall arrested near Phoenix on drug, shoplifting charges

WINNIPEG – Former NFL and Winnipeg Blue Bombers quarterback Max Hall was arrested last week in his home state of Arizona on suspicion of shoplifting and narcotics possession.

Police in Gilbert, Ariz., near Phoenix, reported they were called to a Best Buy on Friday where they found someone they identified as Hall in possession of “several stolen items from Best Buy and a nearby Walmart.”

Police also said they found a “personal use quantity of cocaine” but Hall was released shortly after his arrest.

Before joining the Bombers in 2013 and playing in the CFL, Hall played six games for the Arizona Cardinals of the NFL in 2010.

Hall, 28, started nine of Winnipeg’s final 12 games last season, winning only one as the Bombers tied their worst record ever since the CFL went to an 18-game season at 3-15. His CFL record is 162 completed passes out of 283 attempts for 1,999 yards and nine touchdowns.

But he was still the only one of their quarterbacks from last season the Bombers kept heading into 2014, although he was released in June before the regular season started as part of the team’s final cuts.

Hall grew up in Mesa, another Phoenix-area community, and played college football at Arizona State and BYU before being signed as an undrafted free agent by the Cardinals.

—With files from The Associated Press