The 13 Most Shocking NFL Scandals

The 13 most shocking NFL scandals tell tales of professional football players or complete National Football League teams who have committed horrible crimes, been caught breaking zero-tolerance NFL rules or simply (literally) caught with their pants down. These NFL players, coaches and owners may have been welcomed back in the league after their various incidents but their legacies will forever be tainted with the dirty details of these dramatic NFL scandals.

For many of these scandals, the resulting discipline came directly from the National Football League. Coaches have been fined hundreds of thousands of dollars, like New England Patriots Coach Bill Belichick after the Spygate scandal, and suspended for entire seasons, like New Orleans Saints Coach Sean Peyton after the Bountygate scandal. Players have been suspended, such as Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger following allegations of sexual assault and former Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre after his incident with a New York Giants field reporter.

In other extreme cases, players, owners and other organization members saw law enforcement get involved which resulted in felony charges and long prison terms. The world tuned in when former Heisman Trophy winner OJ Simpson led police on a chase in his white Bronco before the highly publicized murder trial. Fans protested again when former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick went to prison for running a dogfighting ring, and staged boycotts later when he was reinstated and praised for his comeback.

Whatever these NFL teams, NFL players and NFL coaches did to earn their place among the biggest NFL scandals--even if it was just getting drunk and trying to kiss a female sideline reporter, like "Broadway Joe" Namath did with Suzy Kolbert--each of these scandals show us that while people in the NFL are rich and famous, they're also human, just like us.