Wendell Smallwood Jr., a former running back for the Philadelphia Eagles and Super Bowl winner, has won a last-ditch legal struggle to be temporarily freed from federal prison. This will allow him to spend time with his 8-year-old daughter, who is critically ill, during her final days.

Smallwood Jr.’s daughter, Mila, is on her deathbed. In 2026, Mila was diagnosed with cancer. The News Journal reported that chemotherapy had been “unsuccessful.” She was receiving palliative care, with doctors giving her days or weeks to live.

Amid his prison term, it was almost impossible for Smallwood Jr. to be at his daughter’s bedside. However, on August 7, 2026, Gloucester County Superior Court Judge Renard Scott approved the desperate father’s request to have his guilty plea from last year revoked.

“This is not just a matter of legal semantics. It’s about whether his daughter will hold her dad again,” Smallwood Jr.’s attorney, Yaron Helmer, argued to Judge Scott in a New Jersey courtroom last week. “I can’t think of a stronger reason than to be with his dying daughter.”

According to Helmer, the ruling might result in Smallwood Jr.’s release as early as August 10, 2026. In Smallwood Jr.’s emergency hearing on Friday, Judge Scott ruled in favor of the former NFL player. He noted Smallwood Jr.’s circumstances, including his daughter’s grave illness, as a key factor in allowing the petition.

“This is an illness that is untreatable. His daughter has days, possibly weeks, remaining,” Judge Scott noted.

Bryant Flowers, the assistant prosecutor for Gloucester County, asked Judge Scott to postpone his decision so the prosecution could file an appeal. However, the judge declined.

The Philadelphia Eagles picked Smallwood Jr. in the fifth round of the 2016 NFL Draft. Over six NFL seasons, he played for three teams before making his final appearance with the Washington Football Team in 2021.

In 2024, Smallwood Jr. entered a guilty plea to charges of tax fraud, conspiracy, and criminal wire fraud related to COVID-19 economic assistance programs. In September 2025, the former NFL running back received an 18-month prison term.

Moreover, Smallwood Jr. entered a guilty plea in March 2026 to second-degree unlawful possession of an assault firearm for having an AR-15 rifle in New Jersey, which at the time prohibited ownership of assault weapons. In addition to his federal term, he was sentenced to three years in state prison, with a minimum of one year of incarceration.

The News Journal reports that Smallwood Jr.’s eligibility for release from his federal fraud term was based on “his prison program participation and disciplinary record.” Attorney Helmer told the outlet that the gun charge in New Jersey would have put the former NFL player in prison “through November.”

When the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals overturned New Jersey’s assault weapon ban in July 2026, Smallwood Jr. had the opportunity to seek his release. This restored his legal right to revoke his guilty plea.

Since the court delayed its ruling while New Jersey’s attorney general filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court, prosecutors said the recent opinion from the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals should not have had any legal effect on Smallwood Jr.’s case.

Judge Scott presided over the hearing for Smallwood Jr.’s move to retract his guilty plea. “I’m not going to grant the stay,” he said.