Perjury, drugs, and counterfeiting — Trump pardons 5 former NFL players

President Donald Trump has granted pardons to former NFL players whose crimes will certainly raise some eyebrows.

The announcement was made by White House pardon czar Alice Marie Johnson, who was pardoned herself by Trump in 2020 after serving 22 years in prison.

‘Mercy changes lives.’

“Today, the President granted pardons to five former NFL players. … As football reminds us, excellence is built on grit, grace, and the courage to rise again. So is our nation,” Johnson wrote on X.

The five ex-NFL players are Billy Cannon, Travis Henry, Joe Klecko, Jamal Lewis, and Nate Newton. Cannon is the only deceased member of the group.

Henry, a former Buffalo Bills and Tennessee Titans running back, made it to the Pro Bowl in 2002. However, in 2008 as a member of the Denver Broncos, Henry was arrested after authorities in Montana caught him with 6 pounds of marijuana and more than 6 pounds of cocaine. He trafficked cocaine between Colorado and Montana, the DOJ claimed. He was sentenced to three years in federal prison but was released after two.

Lewis, a former Baltimore Raven, won a Super Bowl with the team in 2001, along with a bevy of awards throughout his career. He also has the second-most rushing yards in a single game in NFL history.

In 2004, Lewis reached a plea agreement with prosecutors after being charged with conspiring to possess cocaine with the intent to distribute and using a cell phone in the commission of the first count. He served four months in prison and went on to play in the NFL until 2009.

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A federal grand jury indicted 67 people in 1992, including former New York Jets defensive tackle Klecko. Klecko was allegedly connected to an insurance fraud scheme; UPI reported that an insurance company in New Jersey conspired with body shops and claimants to submit phony claims for paint damage caused by emissions from an oil refinery.

Klecko pleaded guilty to perjury in 1993 and served three months in prison.

Newton, a former Dallas Cowboys player between 1986 and 1998, is a three-time Super Bowl champion and six-time Pro Bowl player. The offensive guard was sentenced to 30 months in prison in 2002 after police found 175 pounds of marijuana in his car. He admitted he planned to drive the load to Houston, Texas, from a nearby county.

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Cannon played for the Houston Oilers and Oakland Raiders in the 1960s, was a Heisman Trophy winner, and was a three-time AFL champion. He pleaded guilty to counterfeiting money in the 1980s, according to the New York Post. He spent more than two years in prison. He died in 2018 at the age of 80.

Johnson called it a “blessed day” when the pardons were granted, adding that she was grateful to the president for his “continued commitment to second chances.”

“Mercy changes lives,” she added.

In November, Trump pardoned former MLB player Darryl Strawberry for 30-year-old tax fraud charges. In 1995, Strawberry pleaded guilty to a single count of tax evasion over a failure to report nearly $500,000 in income he made off of baseball cards and autograph signings between 1986 and 1990.

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