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President Donald Trump pardoned five former NFL players Thursday night.
White House pardon czar Alice Mary Johnson announced the pardons in a social media post. Joe Klecko, Nate Newton, Jamal Lewis, Travis Henry and the late Billy Cannon were pardoned.
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President Donald Trump listens during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on Jan. 29, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
“As football reminds us, excellence is built on grit, grace and the courage to rise again. So is our nation,” Johnson wrote in a post on X.
She added that Dallas Cowboys team owner Jerry Jones shared the news “personally” with Newton, who won three Super Bowls with the Cowboys.
Klecko, a former New York Jets star and Pro Football Hall of Famer, pleaded guilty to perjury when he lied to a federal grand jury investigating insurance fraud.
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Dallas Cowboys guard Nate Newton (61) in action against the San Francisco 49ers at Candlestick Park on November 10, 1996. (James D. Smith/USA TODAY Sports)
Newton, a six-time Pro Bowler and two-time All-Pro selection, pleaded guilty to a federal drug trafficking charge after police discovered $10,000 in his pickup truck as well as 175 pounds of marijuana in a vehicle in an escort car driven by another man.
Lewis, who won a Super Bowl with the Baltimore Ravens, pleaded guilty to a drug charge in which he used a cellphone to try to set up a drug deal shortly after his former team selected him with the No. 5 overall pick in the 2000 draft. He was offensive player of the year in 2003.
Henry, a Pro Bowl running back who played for three teams in his seven-year NFL career, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to traffic cocaine to finance a drug ring that moved between Colorado and Montana.
Oakland Raiders tight end (33) Billy Cannon catches a pass against the Green Bay Packers during Super Bowl II at the Orange Bowl on January 14, 1968. (Tony Tomsic/USA TODAY NETWORK)
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Cannon, a star with the Houston Oilers and Oakland Raiders, admitted to forgery in the mid-1980s. He was the winner of the Heisman Trophy in 1959 while at LSU. His pardon came posthumously when he died in 2018.
