Timeline: The NFL's history of alleged assault and abuse against women

9/9/14 Update: With the 2014 NFL season underway, the league's recent history of assault and abuse has come back to the forefront. Ray Rice, formerly one of the most dominant offensive players in the league, was cut from the Baltimore Ravens and suspended indefinitely by the NFL after a new video was released of him striking his then-fiancee, Janay Palmer, in February 2014. Initially, Rice, who was charged with third-degree aggravated assault, was suspended just two games, reigniting the conversation surrounding the NFL's priorities toward women. 

Explore this America Tonight timeline from earlier this year on some of the NFL's most notable instances of alleged abuse or assault against women. Join Azmat Khan on Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET, as she looks at the discussion happening on social media involving victims of domestic violence.

A six-time All-Pro selection who was voted to the NFL's 2000s All-Decade Team, Darren Sharper was one of the most dominant safeties of his generation. Now, a man famous for his interceptions and the New Orleans Saints' Super Bowl XLIV title is becoming more closely associated with zolpidem and morphine – substances he allegedly used to serially drug and rape women.

Last week, Sharper was formally charged with drugging and raping two women in California, and he remains under investigation for allegedly doing the same to five other women in Arizona, Louisiana and Nevada, according to police. (Read the full affidavit below.)

The case has brought the NFL's recent history of alleged violence against women back to the forefront. The issue of sexual assault and abuse has received far less attention than the ongoing concussion debate and there are fewer reported incidents than drunken driving, although a number of incidents have involved some of the most talented players of the last 15 years. 

With Sharper set to be arraigned Thursday, America Tonight looks back on some notable instances of NFL stars accused of or arrested for assaulting or abusing women.