Worst NFL Players in History

The NFL has been home to some of the worst people to ever play professional sports.

It would be naive to think all NFL players are role models. The antiquated idea that the professional athlete is a shining example of society’s best is no longer on the minds of most sports fans.

But that doesn’t mean we can’t still be shocked by the misdeeds of some of the best athletes in the world who take the field for NFL teams — a league that has been no stranger to controversy, dating all the way back to its inception in 1920 in Canton, Ohio, to its role today as the most popular professional sports league in North America.

Over the past century, the very worst people to play in the NFL have seen their names splashed across headlines. We’re talking about a group of criminals that includes murderers, rapists, drug traffickers and one of the worst serial killers in United States history.

Intrigued? These are the worst NFL players of all time.

25. Richie Incognito

Oakland Raiders offensive guard Richie Incognito

D. Ross Cameron / AP Photo

Born: July 5, 1983 (Englewood, New Jersey)

Position: Guard

Teams: St. Louis Rams (2005-09), Buffalo Bills (2009, 2015-17), Miami Dolphins (2010-13), Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders (2019-21)

Bottom line: Signs of trouble with Richie Incognito began when he was at the University of Nebraska, where he had at least a half-dozen violent incidents involving his teammates, opponents and an arrest where he was charged with three counts of assault.

That didn’t stop Incognito from being employed by NFL teams for the better part of the next two decades. That’s despite evidence of him being racist and a bully — evidenced by his treatment of former Miami Dolphins teammate Jonathan Martin and the team’s athletic training staff, where he would single out Asians and threaten them bodily harm over the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941.

24. Sam Hurd

Charles Rex Arbogast / AP Photo

Born: April 24, 1985 (San Antonio, Texas)

Position: Wide Receiver

Teams: Dallas Cowboys (2006-10), Chicago Bears (2011)

Bottom line: It boggles the mind to try and understand what Sam Hurd was doing when he was arrested as part of a massive drug conspiracy ring in 2011 — at that point, he was in his sixth NFL season and had just signed a three-year, $5 million free-agent contract with the Chicago Bears.

Hurd was conspiring to distribute large amounts of cocaine and marijuana in Chicago and other places with supply from the West Coast — the feds had enough of a rock-solid case against him that he pled guilty and received a 15-year sentence that was later reduced to 10 years. He was released in February 2023.

23. Greg Hardy

Carolina Panthers defensive end Greg Hardy

Dave Martin / AP Photo

Born: July 28, 1988 (Millington, Tennessee)

Position: Defensive End

Teams: Carolina Panthers (2010-14), Dallas Cowboys (2015)

Bottom line: Greg Hardy was one of the most dominant defensive ends in the NFL in the early 2010s with the Carolina Panthers, but he was let go from the team after he was charged with assaulting his girlfriend in 2014.

The details of the assault are pretty harrowing and led many to believe Hardy should have actually been charged with attempted murder and witness tampering when his girlfriend failed to show up for scheduled court appearances in the case. Hardy got one more chance in the NFL, with the Dallas Cowboys in 2015, and blew it. One year later, he was arrested for possession of cocaine, and he’s been scraping out a career fighting in MMA and bare-knuckle boxing in the decade since.

22. Adrian Peterson

Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson

L.G. Patterson / AP Photo

Born: March 21, 1985 (Palestine, Texas)

Position: Running Back

Teams: Minnesota Vikings (2007-16), New Orleans Saints (2017), Arizona Cardinals (2017), Washington Redskins (2018-19), Detroit Lions (2020), Tennessee Titans (2021), Seattle Seahawks (2021)

Bottom line: It was pretty wild to see Adrian Peterson publicly criticize Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin for a piece of clothing he wore to Super Bowl LVII as a spectator — Peterson objected to the depiction of Jesus on Hamlin’s, $3,150 Takashi Murakami jacket.

Ever heard the phrase … “Maybe you should sit this one out?”

Peterson was suspended for all but one game of the 2014 season for physically abusing his 4-year-old son so severely that the boy suffered “slash-like wounds” on his back, buttocks, genitals, ankles and legs from where Peterson beat him with a wooden “switch” — a thin, whip-like tree branch. Peterson eventually pled guilty to a charge of reckless assault.

It wouldn’t be the last time Peterson would be involved in an incident of violence against a member of his own family. He was arrested for assaulting his wife on a flight from Los Angeles to Houston, which forced the flight to return to the gate.

21. Christian Peter

New York Giants defensive tackle Christian Peter

CrimeinSports / Twitter

Born: Oct. 5, 1972 (Locust, New Jersey)

Position: Defensive Tackle

Teams: New York Giants (1997-2000), Indianapolis Colts (2001), Chicago Bears (2002)

Bottom line: We can only hope that in today’s society Christian Peter would never get a chance to play in the NFL and would instead be held more accountable for his heinous crimes.

During his All-American career at Nebraska, Peter had almost a dozen run-ins with the law ranging from public urination to trespassing to being convicted of groping a beauty pageant winner in 1993 and being sentenced to 18 months probation. Following that conviction, a woman came forward with the accusation that she’d been raped by Peter during their freshman year in 1991 — the school ultimately settled a Title IX lawsuit filed by the woman out of court. In 1994, Peter was also convicted of choking a woman in a bar in Kearney, Nebraska.

After being drafted by the New England Patriots in 1996, Myra Kraft, the wife of team owner Robert Kraft, learned of Peter’s crimes and demanded the team cut ties with him, making him the first NFL draft pick to be released before the start of training camp. He still went on to play six years with three teams.

20. Lance Rentzel

AP Photo

Born: Oct. 14, 1943 (Flushing, New York)

Position: Wide Receiver

Teams: Minnesota Vikings (1965-66), Dallas Cowboys (1967-70), Los Angeles Rams (1971-74)

Bottom line: If not for some on-it journalism in the 1970s, who knows what direction NFL wide receiver Lance Rentzel’s crimes may have continued to go in.

When Rentzel was arrested for exposing himself to a 10-year-old girl in 1970 while playing for the Dallas Cowboys, local newspapers dug up an almost-forgotten 1966 arrest in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he’d been arrested for exposing himself to two young girls in the same manner while he was playing for the Minnesota Vikings.

Even after the second arrest, Rentzel was somehow able to continue playing in the NFL for another four seasons with the Los Angeles Rams. The NFL would only suspend Rentzel once — not for the indecent exposure to children but for a conviction for marijuana possession in 1973.

19. Darryl Henley

Mark J. Terrill / AP Photo

Born: Oct. 30, 1966 (Los Angeles, California)

Position: Cornerback

Teams: Los Angeles Rams (1989-94)

Bottom line: Darryl Henley was born and raised in suburban Los Angeles and became an All-American defensive back at UCLA before playing six seasons for the Los Angeles Rams. Henley got mixed up with a cocaine trafficking ring and was convicted on drug charges in 1995, receiving a 20-year sentence.

It wasn’t long after that he was convicted for trying to hire a hitman to murder the judge in the case along with the key witness for the prosecution — a former Los Angeles Rams cheerleader named Tracy Donaho. That earned Henley another 20 years in prison, and he’s scheduled to be released in 2031 when he’s 65 years old.

18. Thomas ‘Hollywood’ Henderson

AP Photo

Born: March 1, 1953 (Austin, Texas)

Position: Linebacker

Teams: Dallas Cowboys (1975-79), San Francisco 49ers (1980), Houston Oilers (1980), Miami Dolphins (1981)

Bottom line: Thomas “Hollywood” Henderson was a linebacker with speed that has been unrivaled at this position to this day — he reportedly ran the 100-meter dash in 9.8 seconds at Langston University. But Henderson had such a severe cocaine addiction that he snorted liquid cocaine out of an inhaler he kept in his pants during games.

Henderson was out of the NFL after seven seasons, and in 1983, he was convicted for raping a wheelchair-bound teenager in California and sentenced to 28 months in prison. Allegedly sober since his release from prison, Henderson made news again in 2000 when he won $28 million in the Texas lottery.

17. Cecil Collins

AP Photo

Born: Nov. 19, 1976 (Fort Knox, Kentucky)

Position: Running Back

Teams: Miami Dolphins (1999)

Bottom line: Problems with Cecil Collins were evident way before he made it to the NFL. Collins was kicked out of LSU after Baton Rouge police labeled him a “sexual predator” for breaking into the homes of multiple women while they slept. Collins transferred to McNeese State, where he was kicked out after he failed a drug test.

Collins’ NFL career lasted just eight games with the Miami Dolphins before he was cut after an arrest for breaking into the apartment of a woman he’d met at a South Florida gym, which came after months of harassment and stalking. Collins was sentenced to 15 years in prison, served 13 years and was released in 2013.

16. Jerramy Stevens

Chris O’Meara / AP Photo

Born: Nov. 13, 1979 (Boise, Idaho)

Position: Tight End

Teams: Seattle Seahawks (2002-06), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2007-10)

Bottom line: Jerramy Stevens never seemed to run out of second chances. In high school, he and a friend attacked a classmate with a baseball bat and kicks to the head, breaking his jaw. On probation for the attack, Stevens failed a drug test, but coaches at the University of Washington vouched for him, and he was let out for training camp.

In college, Stevens was charged with rape, but the case was dropped despite DNA evidence. He’s been charged two more times for assault — of nightclub bouncers in Tampa and even his own wife, soccer star Hope Solo. He’s also dangerous on the road, with three DUI arrests and an incident where he drove his truck into a retirement home.

15. Lawrence Phillips

L.G. Patterson / AP Photo

Born: May 12, 1975 (Little Rock, Arkansas)

Died: Jan. 13, 2016, 30 years old (Kern Valley State Prison, Delano, California)

Position: Running Back

Teams: St. Louis Rams (1996-97), Miami Dolphins (1997), Barcelona Dragons (1998), San Francisco 49ers (1999)

Bottom line: Lawrence Phillips went from growing up in foster homes in California to football stardom when he led the University of Nebraska to back-to-back national titles in 1994 and 1995.

Unfortunately, Phillips’ success came at a high price for those around him. In college, he showed a propensity for violence with two disturbing assault arrests. He burned every bridge he could in four NFL seasons before he was out of the league, and in 2009, he was sentenced to 31 years in prison for assaulting his former girlfriend and running over three teenagers after a dispute in a pickup football game.

Phillips murdered his cellmate in 2015 and, facing the death penalty, died by hanging himself in his cell in 2016.

14. Dana Stubblefield

San Francisco 49ers DT Dana Stubblefield

Joe Pugliese / AP Photo

Born: Nov. 14, 1970 (Cleves, Ohio)

Position: Defensive Tackle

College: Kansas

Teams: San Francisco 49ers (1993-97, 2001-02), Washington Redskins (1998-2000), Oakland Raiders (2003), New England Patriots (2004)

Bottom line: Dana Stubblefield was one of the best defensive linemen in the NFL throughout the 1990s — a career that was overshadowed by accusations of PED use once he was done playing, and he pled guilty to lying to federal investigators in the NFL’s BALCO investigation in 2008.

Two years later, Stubblefield’s behavior escalated, and he was sentenced to 90 days in jail for stealing his ex-girlfriend’s mail by filling out a fraudulent change-of-address form.

In 2016, Stubblefield was arrested for raping a disabled woman who he lured to his home through a babysitter website — a crime for which he was eventually sentenced to 15 years in prison in October 2020.

13. Kevin Allen

Rusty Kennedy / AP Photo

Born: June 21, 1963 (Cincinnati, Ohio)

Position: Offensive Tackle

Teams: Philadelphia Eagles (1985-86)

Bottom line: Widely considered one of the worst players in NFL history, Kevin Allen was the No. 9 overall pick in the 1985 NFL Draft out of the University of Indiana. Philadelphia Eagles head coach Buddy Ryan once said “(Allen) is good if you want someone to just stand there and kill the grass.”

The Eagles cut Allen after he tested positive for cocaine at the beginning of the 1986 season, which was around the same time Allen and a companion attacked a couple in New Jersey. Allen’s companion beat the man unconscious while Allen raped the woman. Allen received a 15-year jail sentence and somehow only served three years. He was banned from the NFL for life but reinstated in 1991, although he only ever played again in the Arena Football League.

12. Rae Carruth

Rick Havner / AP Photo

Born: Jan. 20, 1974 (Sacramento, California)

Position: Wide Receiver

Teams: Carolina Panthers (1997-99)

Bottom line: Rae Carruth hired an associate to murder his girlfriend, Cherica Adams, who was eight months pregnant with his child. Adams died, the child lived, and Carruth was captured as he tried to flee from the authorities, hiding in the trunk of a car and living off of candy bars.

Carruth was convicted of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and sentenced to 18 to 24 years in prison. He was released in October 2018 after serving 18 years. Carruth’s son, Chancellor Lee Adams, was born with severe disabilities and raised by Adams’ mother — he graduated from high school in 2021.

11. Tommy Kane

AP Photo

Born: Jan. 14, 1964 (Montreal, Quebec, Canada)

Position: Wide Receiver

Teams: Seattle Seahawks (1988-92)

Bottom line: Tommy Kane was the rare, big-time football player to come from Canada. He starred at Syracuse University before playing five seasons with the Seattle Seahawks, but once injuries ended his football career, he began to spin out of control with drugs and alcohol. Eventually, his wife, Tammara Shaikh, was forced to leave him and take the couple’s four children with her.

Kane tracked down Shaikh and brutally beat and stabbed her to death at Kane’s mother’s house in Montreal in 2003. During his trial for Shaikh’s murder, it was revealed Kane had a history of violence toward women and had once assaulted a female police officer at Syracuse. He was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 18 years in prison in 2004.

10. Eric Naposki

Amilcar de Leon / AP Photo

Born: Dec. 20, 1966 (New York, New York)

Position: Linebacker

Teams: New England Patriots (1988-89), Indianapolis Colts (1989)

Bottom line: Eric Naposki played two seasons in the NFL in the late 1980s, then was a star in the World Football League before he returned to Newport Beach, California, to work as a nightclub bouncer and fitness instructor.

Naposki began having an affair with Nanette Johnson in the early 1990s — shortly before her millionaire husband, Bill McLaughlin, was found shot to death in his home in 1994. While Naposki was initially a suspect, he wasn’t arrested until 2009 when new evidence in the case came to light that showed he’d planned and executed the murder with Johnson. Both Naposki and Johnson were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for McLaughlin’s murder.

9. Keith Wright

AP Photo

Born: June 8, 1980 (Santa Clara, California)

Position: Defensive Tackle

Teams: Indianapolis Colts (2003-04), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2004-05), Detroit Lions (2006)

Bottom line: Keith Wright was a two-time, All-Big 12 selection at Missouri before being selected in the sixth round of the NFL Draft and playing four seasons with three different teams.

Wright’s true nature as a serial sex offender was revealed after his playing career was over when he was arrested for a string of home invasions, rapes and robberies in Sacramento, California, in 2011. In October 2012, Wright was found guilty on 19 charges of armed robbery, kidnapping, forced oral copulation, first-degree burglary and false imprisonment, and he was sentenced to a life sentence plus 120 years in prison.

8. Dave Meggett

Kevin Rivoli / AP Photo

Born: April 30, 1966 (Charleston, South Carolina)

Position: Running Back/Return Specialist

Teams: New York Giants (1989-94), New England Patriots (1995-97), New York Jets (1998)

Bottom line: Dave Meggett was a dynamic running back and return specialist in the NFL for a decade, following head coach Bill Parcells to three different teams with the New York Giants, New England Patriots and New York Jets.

Meggett turned out to have a double life aside from his football career, terrorizing women for decades as a serial rapist. Meggett eventually was convicted of rape and robbery of a college student in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2010 and sentenced to 30 years in prison. He’s not eligible for parole until 2034.

7. Kellen Winslow Jr.

Mark Duncan / AP Photo

Born: July 21, 1983 (San Diego, California)

Position: Tight End

Career: Cleveland Browns (2004-08), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2009-11), New England Patriots (2012), New York Jets (2013)

Bottom line: When Kellen Winslow Jr. was arrested for burglary in 2018 at a mobile home park in California, it unraveled a trail of sexual crimes dating back 15 years. Winslow was eventually arrested for four separate rapes, including raping an unconscious 17-year-old girl in 2003 when he was 19 years old as well as for raping several homeless women whom he lured into his vehicle with the promise of food and warmth. While out on $2 million bail for the rape charges, Winslow was arrested for exposing himself and placed back into custody.

Somehow, Winslow, the son of Hall of Fame tight end Kellen Winslow, struck a plea deal to plead guilty to the 2003 rape and to several sexual battery charges. Which means he’ll be out in the next decade.

6. Darren Sharper

Charlie Neibergall / AP Photo

Born: Nov. 3, 1975 (Richmond, Virginia)

Position: Safety

Teams: Green Bay Packers (1997-2004), Minnesota Vikings (2005-08), New Orleans Saints (2009-10)

Bottom line: Darren Sharper was one of the premiere safeties in the NFL for over a decade and made six NFL All-Pro Teams as well as winning a Super Bowl with the New Orleans Saints. He was also a serial rapist who drugged and sexually assaulted women across the U.S., including four in a 24-hour period across two different states.

Sharper was convicted on multiple sexual assault and drug charges, along with co-rapists Erik Nunez and Brandon Licciardi, a sheriff’s deputy in a suburb of New Orleans. Licciardi was sentenced to 17 years in prison, Nunez was sentenced to 10 years, and Sharper was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2016 after all entered guilty pleas.

Somehow, Sharper will be eligible for parole in 2024.

5. Robert Rozier

File photo

Born: July 28, 1955 (Anchorage, Alaska Territory)

Position: Defensive End

Teams: St. Louis Cardinals (1979)

Bottom line: Robert Rozier was out of the NFL after less than one season because of issues with drugs, then played professionally in the Canadian Football League for a stretch before joining a cult known as The Brotherhood.

As part of Rozier’s initiation into the cult, he began killing random white people, murdering four before he was arrested. Rozier testified against the cult and its leader, Yahweh ben Yahweh, in exchange for a reduced sentence of 22 years, of which he only served 10 years before he was released into the Witness Protection Program with a new identity. Once out, Rozier violated the strict terms of his parole by writing bad checks and was eventually sentenced to 25 years to life in prison in 2001.

4. O.J. Simpson

AP Photo

Born: July 9, 1947 (San Francisco, California)

Position: Running Back

Career: Buffalo Bills (1969-77), San Francisco 49ers (1978-79)

Bottom line: Hall of Fame running back O.J. Simpson was accused of murdering his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman, in July 1994 after the two were found stabbed to death outside of Nicole’s home.

Simpson hired a team of the nation’s best attorneys and beat the double-murder rap, thanks to a brilliant cross-examination of the county’s forensic team by attorney Barry Scheck and an “incendiary defense” that alleged a vast racial conspiracy against Simpson by the Los Angeles Police Department.

Years later, Simpson served 10 years in prison for armed robbery and kidnapping in Nevada after bringing a group of men with guns into the Las Vegas hotel room of a collectibles dealer who had some of Simpson’s old memorabilia.

Simpson was released from prison in 2018.

3. Anthony Smith

AP Photo

Born: June 28, 1967 (Elizabeth City, North Carolina)

Position: Defensive End

Teams: Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders (1991-97)

Bottom line: Few villains in NFL history have woven such a complicated path of death and destruction as former Oakland Raiders defensive end Anthony Smith, who was once married to pop star Vanity and retired with one year remaining on a $7.6 million contract. Smith’s life away from football was shaped by revenge and murder — first with two trials for firebombing a furniture store in 2003, which both ended in hung juries.

In 2011, Smith went on trial for the torture and murder of Maurilio Ponce, which ended with another hung jury. While awaiting retrial for Ponce’s murder, Smith was charged and convicted for the murders of three more men, and he was found guilty and given three consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.

Smith’s main motivation for the violence and killings turned out to mostly be for what he believed to be business deals gone wrong.

2. Aaron Hernandez

Charles Krupa / AP Photo

Born: Nov. 6, 1989 (Bristol, Connecticut)

Died: April 19, 2017, 27 years old (Leominster, Massachusetts)

Position: Tight End

Teams: New England Patriots (2010-12)

Bottom line: Aaron Hernandez was one of the NFL’s best tight ends before he was sentenced to life in prison in 2015 for the murder of his fiance’s sister’s boyfriend, Odin Lloyd, after luring Lloyd to an empty gravel pit and shooting him to death. It was the last in a long line of violent crimes committed by Hernandez, dating back to high school and continuing into college at the University of Florida and in the NFL with the New England Patriots.

In 2017, famed attorney Jose Baez got Hernandez acquitted of the 2012 murder of two men in South Boston. Shortly after the acquittal, a Boston sports radio talk show reported Hernandez was known to be either bisexual or homosexual and had multiple affairs with men before and after he’d been in prison — Hernandez hung himself in his cell two days later.

1. Randall Woodfield

last_knight_ib / Twitter

Born: Dec. 26, 1950 (Salem, Oregon)

Position: Wide Receiver

College: Portland State

Teams: Green Bay Packers (1974)

Bottom line: Of all the evil men on this list, Randall Woodfield — better known as “The I-5 Killer” — somehow takes it to another level.

Woodfield began to expose himself to girls in the small community he was raised in along the Oregon Coast while he was still in junior high, and he was arrested for indecent exposure in high school although his football talent helped cover up the crime.

There were dozens of incidents with Woodfield involving robberies and indecent exposure throughout his college football career at Portland State and with the Green Bay Packers after they picked him in the 1974 NFL Draft.

After he was cut by the team for his off-field behavior, he returned home to Oregon. Woodfield was arrested for robbing and sexually assaulting women in Portland in 1975 and sentenced to 10 years in prison but only served four years before he was released in 1979. In 1980 and 1981, Woodfield’s final rampage along the Interstate 5 corridor in Oregon, Washington and California included a series of gruesome rapes and murders that ended with his arrest, conviction and a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Since his conviction, Woodfield was tied to two more murders via DNA testing in 2001 and 2006 and is suspected in more than 40 killings.