Trump Pardons Klecko, Jamal Lewis and Other Former N.F.L. Players

President Trump on Thursday pardoned five former professional football players, including Super Bowl champions, a Hall of Famer and a Heisman Trophy winner, for crimes ranging from perjury to drug trafficking.

The players, Joe Klecko, Nate Newton, Jamal Lewis, Billy Cannon and Travis Henry, had all been released from prison more than a decade ago.

The pardons were announced by Alice Marie Johnson, Mr. Trump’s “pardon czar,” in a social media post Thursday night. “As football reminds us, excellence is built on grit, grace, and the courage to rise again,” Ms. Johnson wrote. “Grateful to @POTUS for his continued commitment to second chances,” she added.

It is the latest in a slew of presidential pardons that has ranged from hundreds of Jan. 6 Capitol rioters to crypto moguls and lawmakers in the United States and abroad. Here’s who Mr. Trump pardoned :

Joe Klecko

Mr. Klecko, 72, a defensive lineman for the New York Jets in the late 1970s and 1980s, was sentenced to three months in prison for lying to a grand jury investigating false car insurance claims in 1993. In his playing years, he and Mark Gastineau were part of the defensive line nicknamed the “New York Sack Exchange.” Mr. Klecko was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2023.

Jamal Lewis

Mr. Lewis, 46, a running back who won a Super Bowl with the Baltimore Ravens in 2001, was charged in 2004 for trying to set up a drug deal for at least five kilograms of cocaine mere months before his first N.F.L. game. He reached a plea deal and was sentenced to four months in prison between seasons. After serving a two-game N.F.L. suspension, he resumed his football career. He is one of only two players to rush for at least 295 yards in a game, and in the 2003 season he rushed for 2,066 yards, the third most of any running back in one season.

Nate Newton

Mr. Newton, 64, an offensive lineman and three-time Super Bowl champion for the Dallas Cowboys in the 1980s and 1990s, pleaded guilty to drug trafficking in 2002, and was sentenced to 30 months in prison. At the time, he had been caught twice by police for drug deals each involving more than 100 pounds of marijuana.

Billy Cannon

Mr. Cannon, a Heisman Trophy-winning halfback in 1959 who went on to play 11 years professionally, was sentenced to five years in prison in 1983 for masterminding a multimillion dollar counterfeiting scheme. He was released after serving more than two and a half years in prison. He died in 2018 at age 80.

Travis Henry

Mr. Henry, 47, a running back who made the Pro Bowl with the Buffalo Bills, was sentenced to three years in prison in 2009 for financing a cocaine trafficking ring. In an interview with The New York Times a few months before his sentencing, Mr. Henry discussed being broke after fathering nine children with nine different women.

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