A fashion-week trip to France took an unplanned turn for Washington Commanders linebacker K’Lavon Chaisson, who was stopped at a Paris airport over a problem with his travel documents. Officials took his personal items, and he was close to being put on a flight home. It was eventually resolved, and he now talks about it lightly.

“That’s crazy,” K’Lavon Chaisson told Marshall Kramsky. “They had me sitting in jail, like, the rest of the day. They took all my phone, everything, colognes, anything that could have been crazy; they took it. That was wild, bro, that was wild. I don’t wish that on nobody…”

“Personally, I was thinking it was Brittany Griner, bro. I was like, bro, please don’t Brittney Griner me, bro. Oh my God. Like, please don’t…“Please don’t Brittney Griner and let me go home. And I promise you I’ll do the right thing. So it was a bit funny. I mean, thankfully, I ended up getting up out of it. But, man, that was a little hiccup for sure.”

It’s no surprise his mind went to Griner, since her case is the one most people think of when an athlete is held at an airport abroad.

For context, Griner is an American pro basketball player who was stopped at a Russian airport in February 2022 after officials said they found prohibited items in her luggage. She was convicted that August and sentenced to nine years in a penal colony. Russia released her in December 2022 in a prisoner swap for Viktor Bout.

Chaisson’s situation was nowhere near that serious, but it’s easy to see why her story crossed his mind.

Chaisson’s trip to Paris Fashion Week during the offseason this year took an unexpected turn when a passport issue landed him in trouble with French customs. He was pulled aside soon after landing, had his belongings temporarily confiscated, and was taken to an airport holding facility. At first, he figured it was a small hiccup, but the wait stretched on.

The ordeal began at 9:45 a.m. and lasted past midnight before he was finally cleared. Looking back, he joked about the fear of being stuck in an international detention situation before he could finally enter Paris and return to football.

“So that whole little situation was crazy. Bro, I can’t, every time I think about it, it was just wild, bro, because they were literally legit going to send me back home.”

His own video channel shows what it looked like from the other side. His group was left in the dark.

“What was supposed to be the beginning of an unforgettable week in Paris nearly ended before it ever began. Just moments after arriving, Casey was detained by customs. What should have been a celebration quickly turned into uncertainty. From 9:45 in the morning until midnight, there was no communication.

“His phone had been taken, Lonnie had no service, and no one knew exactly what was happening. With Kay gone, we had no choice but to head to our Airbnb, charge our phones, regroup, and act fast. Every minute mattered. We were making calls, sending emails, and reaching out to anyone who could help while hoping we’d hear something – anything. After more than 14 hours of uncertainty, the call finally came.”

As for the football side, Chaisson was a highly rated recruit coming out of high school, with more than two dozen scholarship offers to choose from. He eventually committed to LSU, where he earned the program’s No. 18 jersey during his redshirt sophomore season.

At LSU, the number carries special meaning, as it is given to players who show strong leadership, put the team first, and represent the program’s values. Then-head coach Ed Orgeron felt Chaisson fit that standard, praising his character and team-first attitude when explaining why he received the honor.

“The guy is a professional,” Orgeron said. “The reason we gave him the No. 18 is because of his character. He’s the ultimate team player.”

Later, the LSU legend was selected by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the first round of the 2020 NFL draft. He even played for the Las Vegas Raiders before moving to the New England Patriots. Chaisson was also on the Carolina Panthers’ roster in 2024, but they released him before he ever played in a real game for the team.

He signed a one-year deal with the Commanders in March 2026 and has started all 7 games he has played this season. Chaisson has 3.5 sacks, 19 total tackles, and 4 tackles for loss, which put him on pace to challenge the career high of 7.5 sacks he set last year in New England.

For now, Chaisson is with the Commanders, the team that helped him during his passport ordeal in Paris, and for the linebacker, it now makes a pretty good story.