President Donald Trump granted pardons Thursday to five former NFL players, according to clemency advocate Alice Marie Johnson.
In a statement on the social media platform X, Johnson announced the pardons of Joe Klecko, Nate Newton, Jamal Lewis, Travis Henry, and Billy Cannon. Cannon’s pardon was posthumous; he died in 2018.
“As football reminds us, excellence is built on grit, grace, and the courage to rise again. So is our nation,” Johnson wrote. She also said Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones personally informed Newton of the pardon.
Klecko, a former New York Jets defensive lineman and Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee, pleaded guilty to perjury for lying to a federal grand jury investigating insurance fraud.
Newton, a six-time Pro Bowl and two-time All-Pro offensive lineman with the Cowboys, pleaded guilty to a federal drug-trafficking charge. Authorities found $10,000 in his truck and 175 pounds of marijuana in a nearby vehicle driven by another man.
Lewis, a former Baltimore Ravens running back and 2003 NFL Offensive Player of the Year, pleaded guilty to using a cellphone to attempt to coordinate a drug deal in 2000, shortly after he was drafted fifth overall.
Henry, who played for three teams across seven NFL seasons and made one Pro Bowl appearance, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to traffic cocaine in a case linked to drug operations between Colorado and Montana.
Cannon, the 1959 Heisman Trophy winner from LSU and former player for the Houston Oilers and Oakland Raiders, pleaded guilty to counterfeiting in the 1980s.
