William Andrews, the great Falcons running back whose career was cut short by knee injuries and who has had a series of legal problems since leaving football, is in jail again.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Andrews was being held in the Cobb County jail Friday following his arrest on a civil contempt charge Thursday. The latest charge against Andrews is that he failed to pay child support.
Andrews was also in jail for failing to pay child support on September 19, 2004, the day he was inducted into the Falcons’ Ring of Honor. He spent most of 2006 in jail as well on fraud charges, and he has arrest records in at least three Georgia counties.
After being selected out of Auburn in the third round of the 1979 NFL draft, Andrews burst onto the scene as one of the best running backs in football, topping 1,000 yards as a rookie. From 1980 to 1983 he was among the top four players in the NFL each year in yards from scrimmage, and he also made the Pro Bowl each year. But a serious knee injury cost him the entire 1984 and 1985 seasons, and when he got back on the field for one last season in 1986 he was not the same player.