Former No. 4 overall NFL draft pick arrested for 9th time since 2010
Former Alabama star and No. 4 overall NFL draft pick Keith McCants has run afoul of the law yet again.
McCants was arrested in St. Petersburg, Florida on Monday morning for possession of crack cocaine and booked into a local jail.
It marks the ninth arrest for McCants since 2010. All have come in the Tampa area, where McCants began his NFL career with the Buccaneers in 1990.
His most recent arrest came in January for driving with a suspended license. He has a July 10 court date for that arrest.
According to the Tampa Bay Times, McCants is being held on $2,000 bond for the felony cocaine charge and an additional $150 for a second offense of driving with a suspended or revoked license.
McCants has never been able to turn the corner in his personal struggles, despite his efforts to help the next generation of football players.
During a 2011 interview while in prison, McCants pleaded to younger NFL players to learn from his mistakes.
“Learn from me,” McCants said. “Learn from me!”
“Anybody coming out of college, they need to hear my story,” McCants told the Sporting News. “I will give them something to talk about that’s real.”
McCants was an unanimous first-team All-American at Alabama and was named by CBS as the National Defensive Player of the Year in 1989.
He then became the fourth overall pick of the 1990 NFL draft by the Bucs, sandwiched between Hall of Famers Cortez Kennedy, who was picked third, and Junior Seau at No. 5.
A college linebacker, McCants converted to defensive end in the NFL but wasn’t able to achieve the same success he had at Alabama. He was cut after three seasons in Tampa after accumulating 12 sacks with the Bucs.
After leaving Tampa, McCants joined the Houston Oilers where he was part of one of the strangest moments in NFL history. McCants (No. 78) was one of the players who broke up a fight between the Oilers’ OC Kevin Gilbride and DC Buddy Ryan.
After one-and-a-half seasons in Houston, McCants followed Ryan to the Arizona Cardinals where he finished out his career.
Despite being the second defensive player drafted in 1990, his 13.5 career sacks rank just 27th in his draft class.
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