Some former NFL players go on to lucrative post career endeavors as broadcasters, ballroom dancers, or peddlers of hair products for old men. (Or, in the case of Emmit Smith, all three.) Others, as has been repeatedly proven in the past, find the transition a bit more difficult.
Former Cowboy Leonardo Carson would probably fall into the latter category.
Carson's trial on federal cocaine and marijuana charges began this week, with drug dealers, one of which was Carson's half brother Wilbert, describing Carson as a kingpin and a supplier, who moved drugs from Texas to Alabama.
According to the Alabama Press-Register, who broke this story, the trial stems from the August 2008 arrest of Carson's half-brother and his friend, Kareem Abdul Cook, on drug charges.
Carson's attorney, Arthur Madden, has been hammering away at the credibility of the prosecution's two star witnesses, saying that their testimony is an act of opportunistic self-preservation. "Now they're using their association with him (Carson) to save themselves," Madden said, in the Press-Register. "As they testify here, they've got crushing sentences hanging over them."
Carson was drafted in the fourth round of the 2000 draft by San Diego, and played for the Cowboys in 2003 and 2004 after being released by the Chargers, recording 61 tackles and 2 sacks in that span. The defensive tackle was signed for the 2005 season before being released during final cuts prior to that season.
Although physically gifted, Carson never really realized his potential in five years in the league. He served a 30-day sentence in the Mobile County Metro Jail in June of 2004 on two misdemeanor counts of kidnapping and burglary stemming from an incident with his ex-girlfriend's sister the previous year.
