Sam Hurd's Chicago Bears teammates said they couldn't believe what they were hearing when they learned the wide receiver had been charged with trying to set up a drug-dealing network following his Wednesday night arrest with more than a pound of cocaine.
"It's a situation that you don't, I don't, want anybody to be in, especially a close friend, a teammate that I've been playing with now for four or five years," said wide receiver Roy Williams, who played with Hurd on the Dallas Cowboys before being reunited on the Bears this year. "Especially a guy from Texas with a wife and a daughter. ... I know it has to be tough for him because he has his family."
Linebacker Brian Urlacher said it's sad for Hurd, who he called a good teammate and good guy. But he said it won't affect the team's play.
"Football-wise, it's not going to be an issue," Urlacher said. "We'll go out there and practice like we do every day and hopefully put it behind us when Sunday gets here."
Linebacker Lance Briggs said the Bears were going to focus on practice and Sunday's home game against the Seattle Seahawks.
"You hate to see this happen to anyone. That's just it. We all make mistakes," Briggs said. "You don't go through a football season without distractions. Distractions are expected. This is a game where we're professionals, and you have to approach it that way.
"There's a sports side, there's a business side and then there's a personal side. And, when it comes to business as a professional, you have to take care of business."
Coach Lovie Smith said the arrest was a disappointment and a "total surprise," adding that Hurd still was a member of the Bears for now.
Smith said there was no reason to believe Hurd had problems when the Bears signed him before the season.
"No issues, no reason. I'm in shock over it. I never saw it coming," Smith said. "But just like I think I know most of you, you don't really know what people do once you're not with them. But I know that anyone we bring through here, we've had an extensive search to find out everything, if there is something out there, and that wasn't the case. There was nothing we knew about Sam."
In 2009, four years into his NFL career, Hurd established a charitable organization, Running with the Hurd, aimed at mentoring kids. The organization sponsored a football camp in the South Texas city of Harlingen last year.
In 2008, Hurd's sister, Jawanda Newsome, told the San Antonio Express-News that her brother was paying to fix up their parents' home as well as covering his younger brother's junior-college tuition.
Newsome said she worried about her brother because he was so prone to give his money away.
"Everyone knows he has a generous heart and is not the kind of person to say no," said Newsome, who didn't immediately return calls Thursday. "I kind of get upset because people take advantage of him."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
