Once upon a time, Alshon Jeffery was on his way to becoming one of the best players in modern Chicago Bears history. After a tough rookie season in 2012 that was marred by injuries, the 2nd round pick out of South Carolina exploded over the next two years, amassing 2,554 receiving yards and 17 touchdowns. It was easily the best two-year stretch a drafted Bears wide receiver had ever had. While his next two seasons were marred by injuries and erratic QB play, extending him felt like an easy decision. Jeffery even stated his first choice was to stay in Chicago.
Then he dodged the teams’ attempts to extend him, hit free agency in 2017, and went to the Philadelphia Eagles instead. He immediately won the Super Bowl. Jeffery turned into a hated man in Chicago after that. His career didn’t last much longer. Injuries kept piling up until he was out of the league by the end of 2020. From there, he faded into the background. One could only hope he might better learn to operate with more honesty. Instead, the opposite became true as TMZ Sports revealed the former receiver was busted for insurance fraud.
Alshon Jeffery — who won a Super Bowl with the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2017 season — was arrested for insurance fraud earlier this week, TMZ Sports has learned.
Jeffery — who was also busted for conceal/fail to disclose insurance benefit or payment — was booked in jail around 8 AM on Wednesday and has since been released.
Further details surrounding the arrest were not immediately available.
According to California law, the insurance fraud charge is a felony and can carry up to five years in prison and/or a fine that’s double the amount of the fraud.
Alshon Jeffery seems to have taken inspiration from Brett Favre.
Keep in mind the man earned more than $62 million in his NFL career. He should’ve had enough to retire and live out the rest of his life in perfect comfort. Why he felt the need to potentially fake accidents or pad claims for more money is beyond confusing. In the absence of details, the only possible explanation is that he was having financial troubles. It would be further proof that professional athletes just don’t know how to manage their money, which is why a disturbing number of them end up broke after they retire.
Perhaps the same thing happened to Alshon Jeffery. Nobody wants to say it’s karma, but the evidence speaks for itself. This isn’t a case where an innocent former player was pushed into a terrible situation. This was a former player who already had a shaky reputation for talking out of both sides of his mouth, getting his hand caught in the proverbial cookie jar. It’s still sad. Just not for the right reasons. He could’ve had a highly productive second phase of his life. Instead, he fell into the same trap many former athletes do.
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People love stories of the tragic fall.
Alshon Jeffery encapsulates that perfectly. Here’s a young man who had many questioning his desire to succeed when he was drafted in the 2nd round in 2012. He took that as motivation to become, ever so briefly, one of the best wide receivers in the NFL. Then he won a championship. It was shaping up to be a tremendous story. Sadly, things took a wrong turn somewhere. Perhaps more details will be forthcoming once this fraud case begins sharing more details in the coming days and weeks.
Just don’t expect sympathy from Bears fans. They gave him all sorts of support when he got to the NFL. He built his career in Chicago and used that to help another team win a championship. Usually, you hatewatch other teams. He was one of the exceptions where fans hatewatched another player. Seeing this arrest happen feels like vindication. Fans were right to hate him. Hopefully, someone else will come along to wash the #17 clean and make it great again.
