Chris Long experienced the NFL zenith, winning Super Bowl LI with the Patriots and Super Bowl LII with the Eagles.
Those weren’t his only highs.
The recently retired defensive end told “The Dan Patrick Show” on Tuesday that he used his “fair share” of marijuana during his 11-season NFL career.
“I’m not a dry snitch, I’m not going to put a percentage on how much the league smokes, but I certainly enjoyed my fair share on a regular basis throughout my career,” said the 34-year-old, who played his final season with Philadelphia. “If not for that, I’m not as capable of coping with the stresses of the day-to-day NFL life.”
The NFL still tests for marijuana and catches and suspends players every year. Long shrugged, though, saying the testing was simple to beat: It happens once a year at a date that is known, so he and others would stop using leading up to the test.
It was easy to navigate. It was hard to get by without the marijuana.
“In that month or two that you stop, you’re going to reach for the sleeping pills, you’re going to reach for the pain-killers and you’re going to reach for the bottle a little bit more,” Long said. “If you’re serious about players not using, you’d be testing more often. I hope they go the opposite direction and just kind of realize how arbitrary that one test is.”
Long was never caught nor suspended. He retires after 162 games played and 70 career sacks.