Former NFL Player Wendell Smallwood Granted Early Release to Be With Terminally Ill Daughter
By Alexus Mosley
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Former NFL running back Wendell Smallwood Jr. is expected to leave prison early so he can spend what may be his eight-year-old daughter’s final days by her side.
Smallwood, 32, has been incarcerated since 2024 while serving sentences connected to fraud and firearm charges. But after his daughter Mila’s cancer stopped responding to treatment, his attorney asked a New Jersey judge to reconsider his situation.
On August 7, Gloucester County Superior Court Judge Renard Scott withdrew Smallwood’s guilty plea in his firearm case, clearing the way for his release, which is expected to happen on or before August 17. Mila’s condition has reportedly deteriorated to the point that doctors believe she may have only days or weeks to live. “This is an illness that is untreatable,” Scott said while discussing the case. “His daughter has days, possibly weeks remaining.”
Ahead of the ruling, Smallwood’s attorney, Yaron Helmer, emphasized that Mila is now receiving comfort-focused care after chemotherapy failed to stop the progression of her cancer. “They can’t do anything except make her comfortable now,” Helmer told the court. “This is not just a matter of legal semantics. It’s about whether his daughter will hold her dad again.” Smallwood’s participation in rehabilitation programs and good behavior while incarcerated were also reportedly considered when the court weighed his release.
Smallwood was sentenced in September 2025 to 18 months in prison in connection with a pandemic-relief fraud case and was also serving a concurrent three-year sentence stemming from an unrelated firearm conviction. The firearm case involved a weapon Smallwood legally purchased in Pennsylvania but kept at his home in New Jersey, where possession of that type of firearm was prohibited at the time.
A recent appeals court ruling challenging New Jersey’s assault-weapons ban also affected the legal circumstances surrounding Smallwood’s conviction. It helped open the door for the court to revisit his plea. Judge Scott described Smallwood’s decision involving the firearm as a “poor judgment call,” while acknowledging the extraordinary circumstances involving his daughter.
Smallwood played in the NFL after being selected by the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2016 draft. His professional career also included time with Washington, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Jacksonville Jaguars after playing college football at West Virginia.
But for now, football is far from the story. The hope is simply that Smallwood will be able to return home in time to be with Mila and give an eight-year-old girl the chance to spend her remaining time with her father.