The Deadly Duo: Drug Charges and Child Support

Drafted by the Buffalo Bills in the second round (58th overall) in 2001, Travis Henry seemed to be a promising rookie coming out of U. of Tennessee and being named SEC first team All-American.  And as expected, Henry was a Pro-Bowl candidate in his 02’ season with the Bills’ after a 1’438 yard and 13 touchdown performance.

Henry was doing well with the Bills’ and became the franchises fourth-leading rusher in history with 3’849 yards and 27 touchdowns in 3 seasons, he lost his starting job to Willis McGahee in 2004 and was traded to the Tennessee Titans in 2005 due to Henry not wanting to be a backup.

Although Henry did not want to be a backup, he became exactly that to Titans RB Chris Brown and still had some success with the team but was later released by the franchise in 2007 and signed by the Denver Bronco’s.

While Travis Henry was on the rise in the NFL as a top running back in 2007 in the early stages of the season, his personal issues became too much for him and the NFL to handle.

Henry was injured early in the 2007 season and also was in the hot seat for reportedly failing a drug test due to marijuana use. Although Henry was accused of going against the NFL’s drug testing policy he was still able to play during the 2007 season until proven guilty.  Henry later passed a lie detector test and hair test suggesting he was a victim of second-hand smoke.

With all of Henry’s off-field issues in 2007, he proclaimed wanting to have a new start with the franchise and giving the city of Denver false promises of “making right with the Bronco’s, Denver fans, and myself”, he was released by the Bronco’s in June of 2008 due to his lack of commitment and possibly knowledge of marijuana use before him failing a drug test a month later.

In September 2008 the DEA arrested Henry on accusations of being involved in a large cocaine affair and faced up to 10 years in prison on federal drug trafficking charges.

Henry pleaded guilty to a single count of cocaine trafficking in April 2009, and on July 15, 2009 he was sentenced to three years in prison and five years probation after his releasing, and a drug treatment program attached with an ample amount of hours.

With all of Henry’s troubles, he also has to worry about his 11 kids after his prison sentence is over. He was reportedly “too broke” to take care his children’s child support payments of 170K per year  while spending over 200K on jewelry during the 2007-2008 season.