President Donald Trump Pardons 5 Former NFL Players
If there is one thing football teaches us, it’s that the game isn’t over until the clock hits zero. You can fumble in the second quarter and still make a game-winning drive in the fourth. On Thursday, President Donald Trump decided to play referee on some old legal scores, throwing a challenge flag on the criminal records of five former NFL standouts.
In a move that caught the sports world a bit off guard, Trump issued full pardons to New York Jets legend Joe Klecko, Cowboys icon Nate Newton, Ravens powerhouse Jamal Lewis, former Bill Travis Henry, and the late, great LSU Heisman winner Billy Cannon.
This wasn’t your typical White House press briefing. The news broke via “pardon czar” Alice Marie Johnson on social media, framing the decision around “grit, grace, and the courage to rise again.” It’s a fascinating mix of gridiron glory and legal redemption, and frankly, it reminds us that even guys who looked like superheroes on Sunday usually had some very human struggles on Monday.
Trump and the “Kitchen Sink” Offensive Line
If you watched football in the 90s, you couldn’t miss Newton. The man was a house. He anchored that “Great Wall of Dallas” that helped Emmitt Smith run into the history books. Newton has three Super Bowl rings to his name, but his post-retirement life took a detour that was heavier than a defensive tackle.
In 2002, Newton got pinched with 175 pounds of marijuana. He served a 30-month sentence in federal prison. The emotional kicker here? It was Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones who personally called Newton to tell him Trump had cleared his record. You can imagine the scene: Newton, the tough-as-nails guard, getting that call from his old boss. That’s the human element you don’t see in the court documents.
Then you have Klecko. If you’re a Jets fan, Klecko is royalty. He was the heart of the “New York Sack Exchange.” His crime was a bit different—perjury. In the early 90s, he lied to a grand jury about an insurance fraud scheme. He did three months for it. Klecko just got into the Hall of Fame in 2023, and now, thanks to Trump, his record is as clean as a fresh jersey.
Running Backs and Run-ins With the Law
The backfield got some love from Trump, too. Lewis was an absolute monster on the field. In 2003, he rushed for 2,066 yards. Only a handful of humans have ever done it, but the year after that historic season, he pleaded guilty to using a cell phone to set up a cocaine deal. He spent four months away to think about it. It’s always been a weird asterisk on a career that was otherwise Hall of Fame worthy.
Henry was another back who could find the endzone but couldn’t find his footing off the field. He had back-to-back 1,300-yard seasons in Buffalo but ended up serving three years for financing a drug ring moving product between Colorado and Montana. It’s the classic tragedy of immense talent derailed by bad decisions, something Trump seems keen on rectifying with these pardons.
The Heisman Legend and the Printing Press
The wildest story of the bunch has to be Cannon. We are talking about gridiron royalty here. He won the Heisman at LSU in 1959 and was an AFL champion three times. But in the mid-80s, broke due to bad investments, Cannon didn’t turn to drugs. No, he went old school. He got involved in a counterfeiting ring.
He printed millions in fake cash. He served three years for it. Cannon passed away in 2018, so this pardon from Trump is posthumous. It is a final salute to a complicated legacy.
Why Trump Made the Play
Trump has always been a sports guy. He’s often seen at UFC fights, he owned a USFL team back in the day, and he clearly respects the mentality of pro athletes. Just last November, he pardoned Mets legend Darryl Strawberry.
There is a clear pattern here. Trump seems to be looking at guys who reached the pinnacle of their profession, fell hard, paid their dues, and tried to rebuild. Alice Marie Johnson put it best when she said, ” Excellence is built on the courage to rise again.
