Former NFL WR Sam Hurd could get life on drug charge

While NFL teammates and friends knew Sam Hurd as a hardworking wide receiver and married father, authorities say he was fashioning a separate identity as a wannabe drug kingpin with a focus on “high-end deals” and a need for large amounts of cocaine and marijuana.

Hurd is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday after pleading guilty in April to one count of trying to buy and distribute large amounts of cocaine and marijuana.

According to a federal complaint, Hurd told an undercover agent that he wanted 5 to 10 kilograms of cocaine and 1,000 pounds of marijuana per week to distribute in the Chicago area.

While no other players are known to have been charged in connection with the case, Hurd claimed in an interview published Tuesday that he shared marijuana with Cowboys teammates and smoked during the last three to four years of his career “all day, every day.” Cowboys defensive tackle Jason Hatcher, a former teammate of Hurd’s, called Hurd a “great guy in the locker room” and a “great teammate.” One of Hurd’s attorneys, Jay Ethington, has said that Hurd was given no promise of leniency for pleading guilty and avoiding trial.

Sentence recommendations from prosecutors and Hurd’s attorneys are sealed, though attorneys for both sides are expected to make their case before U.S.

Sentencing Commission, the average sentence handed down for drug trafficking cases in Texas’ Northern District, where Hurd is being prosecuted, was about 9 years between October 2011 and September 2012, the most recent period for which statistics are available.