Criminals in the NFL are a notorious crew. With the new arrest of Cam Sutton, he just might find himself a part of a long and distinguished list.
He may have turned himself in but that didn’t keep the Detroit Lions from making the decision to let Sutton go. In fact, it’s because he had second thoughts about doing the right thing that aided them in making that tough call. On top of that, he has a tough hill ahead of him because he’s facing charges of Domestic Battery by Strangulation.
The incident took place on March 7 and all the details have yet to come out. That will happen in the hearings and fans might not ever get the full picture if he takes a plea or it’s dropped before it goes to court. So, whether or not he did it has yet to be decided and America does have a policy that he’s innocent until proven guilty. That policy isn’t often followed on the internet where every armchair lawyer likes to give their “expert” opinion on what happened in an incident they were not present to witness and that they have no physical evidence to back their findings.
However, the NFL has a long list of criminals and it’s insane what some players have done. That means they were charged and convicted. Some of them served prison time for their crimes never to step on an NFL football field again. There are charges that range from sex crimes to dog fighting. But these players have all either participated in or committed an offense resulting in another’s death or multiple deaths, and were found guilty or pled guilty in a court of law.
The Worst Criminals in NFL History
Josh Brent
Josh Brent graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and clawed his way onto the Dallas Cowboys after being drafted in the 2010 Supplemental Draft. He would go on to play for three short years until his career came to an abrupt halt when he was in a car accident that claimed the life of his friend and teammate, Jerry Brown. He was highly intoxicated and speeding at the time of the incident which resulted in him being found guilty of manslaughter and somehow only sentenced to 180 days in jail along with 10 years of probation, which he violated in 2019 when he was arrested for public intoxication.
Donte Stallworth
When Donte Stallworth was drafted to the New Orleans Saints in 2002, it appeared he had a bright future ahead of him. By 2009, he had been passed around the NFL and was currently playing for the Cleveland Browns when he struck and killed 59-year-old Mario Reyes early in the morning on March 14. He admitted to drinking the night before and entered into a plea bargain to serve less than a month in jail. He would go on to play a few more years after serving his time but he never stayed at one team for very long and he finally wrapped it up in 2013.
Dwayne Goodrich
Dwayne Goodrich’s incident resulted in two deaths because he not only ran over Demont Matthews and Joby Wood who were trying to pull Shuki Josef from a burning car that had crashed on a Dallas interstate, but he left the scene of the crime and didn’t come back for a few hours. The former cornerback for the Dallas Cowboys was charged with vehicular manslaughter on January 15, 2003, a day after the incident.
He ultimately served eight years in prison and was released in 2011. He has gone on to become a motivational speaker where he talks about the incident, his mistakes, and how he has turned his life around. This ends our short list of criminals who had made mistakes that unfortunately resulted in death.
Tommy Kane
The list now jumps up to a whole new level as far as criminals are concerned. In November 2003, Tommy Kane brutally attacked his wife and stabbed her to death. He and Tamara Shaikh had been estranged so when she came to his house to talk him into going to detox, he tried for reconciliation. When she refused, it led to the struggle in which she fought back with the aid of Hilda St-Louis, a lady from the church she brought with her for assistance.
Tommy fought Hilda off and grabbing for a second knife, finally delivered the fatal blow. She died in Hilda’s arms. The former Seattle Seahawk was charged with second-degree murder but it was negotiated down to manslaughter and he was sentenced to 18 years in prison.
Eric Naposki
From Tommy Kane’s crime of passion, Eric Naposki steps up this list of criminals with premeditated murder. In December 1994, millionaire investor Bill McLaughlin was found shot to death in his kitchen where he was trying to make himself a sandwich. The murder went unsolved for many years until investigators caught up to Nanette Johnston who had moved in with Bill after placing a dating ad bluntly seeking a wealthy companion.
She was cheating on Bill with Naposki and the two conspired to murder the millionaire for their own financial gain. Nearly 30 witnesses and a ton of evidence were presented that ultimately resulted in Naposki’s sentence in 2012 to life without the possibility of parole. Johnston was also sentenced to life without parole.
Rae Carruth
Stepping into a new level of evil, Rae Carruth may be a free man today but the former Carolina Panthers wide receiver will never live down what he did. Not only is he responsible for having his girlfriend killed but her death resulted in his son being born with permanent brain damage and cerebral palsy. In court, the prosecution was able to prove that Carruth wasn’t happy that Cherica Adams couldn’t be talked into an abortion so he hired Van Brett Watkins Sr. to murder her. Carruth was convicted of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, discharging a firearm into occupied property, and use of an instrument to destroy an unborn child.
He served 18 years in prison until he was released in 2018. Watkins was also sent to prison and died there in 2023. Carruth’s son, Chancellor Lee Adams graduated high school in 2021 and wants nothing to do with his father. The former NFL player may have had a lot of time to change, but he makes this list as one of the bona fide criminals because of the hideous nature of his crime that is impossible to forgive.
Aaron Hernandez
The case of Aaron Hernandez was shocking when all the details were considered together. The former New England Patriots tight end was ultimately sent to prison for the murder of his friend, Odin Lloyd. He was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole and then investigated for other unsolved shootings that had taken place within his vicinity or of people he had altercations with. To sum it up, Justin Glass and Corey Smith had survived a double shooting back in 2007 where Hernandez was picked out of a lineup. The witness later rescinded his story.
Hernandez was also investigated for the double homicide of Daniel Jorge Correia de Abreu and Safiro Teixeira Furtado. He was ultimately acquitted of those murders and returned to his prison cell where he committed suicide. Post-death, it was determined that he suffered from brain damage from repeated head trauma caused by the game. There is a good chance he would not be on this list of criminals if he had been diagnosed before his death and was given proper treatment.
Anthony Smith
For the Raiders, violence comes naturally making Anthony Smith a perfect candidate to get picked 11th in the 1990 draft. The defensive end was charged in 2011 for the 2008 shooting of Maurilio Ponce. When the jury deadlocked on the case, Smith was awaiting a retrial when he caught charges for three more murders dating back as far as 1999.
Brothers Kevin and Ricky Nettles’ bodies were found where they had been dumped in 1999 after being shot. Then, Dennis Henderson’s body was found in 2001 and also connected to Smith, making it the fourth murder charge he would face in court. He would be found guilty of three of them while the jury again deadlocked on Ponce. He was given three life sentences in 2016.
Phillip Adams
In another case of brain damage caused by repeated head trauma, Phillip Adams went beyond what Carruth and Smith did combined. Smith was convicted of murdering three and Adams shot six people total. But while Carruth hurt his own child, two of Smith’s murders included someone else’s children.
On April 7, 2021, Adams shot the physician Robert Lesslie, his wife, two of their grandchildren, and two HVAC technicians who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The next day, there was a standoff at his house where he took his own life but his mother was safe and sound in the home. A motive did finally surface that Dr. Lesslie was treating Adams and had stopped giving him medication.
The Worst of the Criminals, Robert Rozier
The list of criminals is diverse from NFL players who had accidents and regretted them to those suffering from brain damage and not understanding what was going on until it was too late. But Robert Rozier is a true criminal who went on a killing spree and actually wanted to kill more before he was caught. The defensive end was a ninth-round draft pick to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1979 but he didn’t last long at all and his NFL career ultimately amounted to very little.
He was recruited to the Nation of Yahweh and invited into a deep sect known as the Brotherhood. It was a group that was designated to do special missions and Rozier’s initiation involved killing random “white devils.” When he was finally caught, he was unhappy with the lawyer the church was providing him and when he made demands, they excommunicated him. So he turned against the church and worked out a deal, confessing to four murders while telling on a whole lot more than that. He is currently serving time at Mule Creek State Prison under his Federal Witness Protection Program name, Robert Rameses.
