Even in the NFL, where 27 players have been hit with felony charges in the past eight years, there are still two words that bring pause to even the most brazen miscreant: federal investigation.

While the league copes with a rash of court proceedings, including an additional 281 misdemeanors offenses, what simultaneously rivets the attentions of Falcons quarterback Michael Vick and commissioner Roger Goddell is the U.S. Justice Department's record whenever it indicts a player.

Of the only six players believed to have faced federal charges while still on active roster, only one was exonerated. Four served time in prison. But, by the same token, only two of the six saw their NFL careers end.

Vick, indictee No. 7, cannot exactly be relishing his day in court. When then-San Francisco 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo learned he was about to be indicted on fraud charges in 1997, he quickly sold the team before the feds could finish their paperwork.

It is not as if federal prosecutors avoid cases involving NFL players. But the two entities rarely have cause to intersect.

"It may just be that they're not often looking at the crimes that NFL players get involved in," said Don Samuel, noted Atlanta attorney who represented running back Jamal Lewis in his 2000 cocaine case. "The feds are usually interested in big drug deals, white collar crime, bank robberies.

"And not many NFL players are out robbing banks."

The government had reason to believe Miami wide receiver Tony Martin was laundering drug money when he was hit with a five-count indictment in Florida in 1999. Martin not only was found not guilty but went on to play three more seasons, finishing his career with the Falcons in 2001.

Lewis, who faced a possible 10-year sentence if convicted of cocaine conspiracy charges, served four months after pleading guilty to the lesser charge of using a phone to make a drug deal. He was suspended for two games after entering the guilty plea but still was out of jail in time to play 15 games for the Ravens in 2005.

The government's pursuit of a steroid case in 1992 led investigators to New York Giant Eric Moore and Tampa Bay Buccaneer Mark Duckens, two brothers-in-law described by prosecutors as "pawns in an international steroid ring."

After both were hit with possession of anabolic steroids and conspiracy to distribute charges, Moore pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges, drew three years of probation, served a four-game suspension and played out the 1993 season with the Giants. His brother-in-law Duckens' career ended after the Bucs released him following a plea to lesser charges.

Though running back Bam Morris pleaded guilty to two federal marijuana distribution charges a year after he had retired in 2000, the case developed while he was still playing for the Kansas City Chiefs. The leading rusher in Super Bowl XXX for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1997, Morris abruptly retired just before his indictment was announced.

Minutes before his trial was to begin, he pleaded guilty of conspiring to distribute 220 pounds of pot and is currently serving a 10-year sentence.

Perhaps no player rebounded stronger from a federal case than Mike Bell, a Kansas City linebacker who was convicted in 1986 on two counts of using a telephone to arrange a cocaine sale. Bell, who was 28 when he was arrested, served a four-month sentence, filed for reinstatement and played through the 1991 season.