If there’s one player who knows about maintaining a long, healthy career in the NFL, it’s Chris Long. The former defensive end, who was a Super Bowl LI champion with the New England Patriots, spent 10 years in the league and had only two seasons in which he didn’t participate in all 16 regular-season games.
Keeping his body in shape was one hurdle for Long. But keeping his mind in check while dealing with the everyday stressors of being a professional athlete was also another.
On “The Dan Patrick Show” on Wednesday, Long discussed how he used marijuana regularly during his NFL career to help stay on track.
“I’m not going to put a percentage on how much of the league smokes. But I certainly enjoyed my fair share on a regular basis throughout my career,” Long said. “If not for (marijuana) I’m not as capable of coping with the stressors of day-to-day NFL life.”
Patrick followed that statement up by asking about the NFL’s testing for marijuana. Long then explained how players were able to beat the test, which has been made very transparent by the league.
“I think the testing is arbitrary,” said Long. “The league, speaking plainly, knows damn well what they are doing. Testing players once a year for street drugs, which is a terrible classification for marijuana, is kind of silly because players know when the test is, we can stop (using it), and in that month or two you’re going to reach for the sleeping pills, you’re going to reach for painkillers, you’re going to reach for the bottle a little bit more. On the weekend you’re going to have a few more drinks, and a few turns into a few too many.
“If you’re serious about players not smoking, you’d be testing for it more often. I hope (the NFL) goes the opposite direction and just kind of realize how arbitrary doing that one test a year is.”
