On Friday, a judge convicted Dallas Cowboys linebacker Rolando McClain of resisting arrest and disorderly conduct in his Alabama hometown and imposed an 18-day jail term that could interrupt the player's bid to restart his career.

McClain has filed an appeal and will not have to report for his jail sentence until after the appeal is completed in state court. Judge Cook also ordered McClain to pay $1,572 in fines and court costs and it is unknown just how long the appeal process will take.

"My attitude is I think I ran into the only person in the entire state of Alabama that would convict Rolando McClain based on this evidence," defense attorney Harvey Steinberg said. "Unfortunately, it happened to be the judge."

The former Alabama Crimson Tide star maintained his innocence and said police arrested the wrong person. He's been arrested three times in Decatur, Alabama since 2011.

McClain tried to delay the trial so he could attend the start of NFL training camp this week, but a judge refused. McClain may be doing himself more harm than good if he loses his appeal and ends up having to serve his jail time during the NFL season if he were to make the roster.

The Cowboys acquired the rights to McClain from Baltimore on July 1. He was the eighth overall pick by Oakland in 2010, but has not played since 2012. Dallas decided to reach out to McClain after star linebacker Sean Lee suffered a torn ACL during OTA's.

McClain is currently headed to Cowboys training camp in Oxnard, California, and the anticipation is he will practice on Saturday. The Cowboys are hopeful McClain can revive his career in Dallas and be a key contributor on the worst defense in the NFL last season.

Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said he was unsure when McClain would return to the Cowboys, although he said Thursday he anticipated the linebacker would return Friday night and possibly practice Saturday.

"We're going to support him, and we'll see what happens with this particular situation, and then we'll make the best decision for our football team," Garrett said.

"He's a young man who is trying to sort some things out that happened in his past," Garrett said. "He'll work through that process. We'll see how all that stuff shakes out, and we'll see where he fits back in our team."