In a very honest and personal interview, Darren Waller, a tight end for the Giants, talked about his past struggles with drug addiction, which included an overdose in 2017 while he was in the NFL.
Waller, who is now known as a talented player in the league and has made it to the Pro Bowl, shared that even though he achieved his dream of playing in the NFL, he was really unhappy. He thought that once he reached the NFL, he’d be incredibly happy, but that wasn’t the case.
#Giants TE Darren Waller was very open and honest when talking about overcoming his addiction and balancing a football career with it, via @2ndWindPod
Waller spoke about how he would go out six nights a week in college, doing drugs and drinking 20+ beers.
He said he couldn’t… pic.twitter.com/tEJsys5L6v
— JPAFootball (@jasrifootball) September 19, 2023
During the interview on the 2nd Wind Podcast, Waller revealed just how bad his drug problem was. He said that he used drugs and partied almost every night of the week. He would drink lots of beers and consume a lot of alcohol. His behavior was pretty self-destructive.
He also talked about how his addiction made it hard for him to enjoy the moment when he was drafted into the NFL back in 2015. Instead of feeling happy and excited like most players do when they get drafted, Waller was worried that people would find out he had a drug problem.
Waller then shared a really scary experience from August 11th, 2017, when he overdosed on drugs. He described it as feeling like he laid his head back in the car, and when he woke up, it was nighttime. He thought it was daytime because it was so disorienting. He said he sweated a lot during this scary episode.
