NFL players who got into legal trouble: Stories from off the field | NFL News

NFL football is such a brutal game; it really encourages its players to play in the most reckless manner possible, with no regard for human life. The best of these players receive huge contracts and a huge fan base. Many of the players arrested returned to the sport immediately, which shows the different ways the NFL and its teams responded to these scandals by suspending them, continuing to support them, and reinstating them into the sport. Here are some players who have had legal troubles.
Orenthal James Simpson
OJ Simpson was an American football player, actor and media personality who played for the Buffalo Bills for 11 seasons. He is considered by most to be one of the best running backs in football history. But even his successful career as a professional football player was overshadowed by his acquittal in a highly controversial criminal trial involving the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman in 1994.

Eric Naposki
Eric Andrew Naposki was a former American professional football player who was arrested in Newport Beach, California in 2009 for the murder of billionaire investor Bill McLaughlin. He did so in conspiracy with Nanette Johnston, McLaughlin's girlfriend and Naposki's lover, in order to collect McLaughlin's life insurance policy. In 2011, Naposki was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole in August 2012.
Aaron Hernandez
Aaron Josef Hernandez was an American professional football player who was charged with the murder of Odin Lloyd, a semi-professional player. After being released by the Patriots, Hernandez was found guilty of first-degree murder in 2015 and sentenced to life in prison without parole. He was also charged with the double murder of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado in 2012, but was acquitted after a trial in 2017.

Robert Rozier
Robert Rozier, a 1979 NFL draft pick of the St. Louis Cardinals, started none of his six games as the No. 75 pick. His career was short due to drug abuse and minor offenses. In the 1980s, he joined the Nation of Yahweh and murdered at least four people. He was indicted, presented evidence against the group and its leader, and was sentenced to 22 years in prison. In 2001, he was sentenced to 25 years to life under California's three-strikes law after bouncing checks in 1999.
Ray Lewis
Raymond Anthony Lewis Jr. is a former American professional football linebacker who played his entire 17-year career in the NFL with the Baltimore Ravens and was an All-America member of the Miami Hurricanes. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest defensive players of all time. In 2000, Lewis pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in connection with the stabbing deaths of two men, which was ultimately ruled an act of self-defense.