NFL SOBER COACH: 45 DAYS speaks “VOLUMES”. NFL Players Need a DIFFERENT Kind of COACHING during their “vacation”.

If there has ever been a 45 day window that spoke loudly for the avocation of sober coaching and life coaching in the NFL today, it’s that small 45 day “vacation” that every NFL player is given between Spring OTAs and Summer training camp. It happens every year like clockwork.  NFL coaches and owners end that final day of OTAs lecturing, preaching, and most times, even begging their players to conduct themselves accordingly and to be mindful that they are representing themselves as a corporation as well as the franchise itself at all times.

  But just like anything else where rules and boundaries are instilled, some of those that are so adamantly warned fall short of expectations. Every year during this time period the NFL sees a spike in arrests, bodily injury and drug and alcohol relapses. This is where we ask the question of just how much different the outcome of some of these unfortunate circumstances would be if the NFL or the individual teams themselves would assign sober coaches or life coaches to target players and those at high risk of acting “out of line”.

Just this year alone there were many unfortunate instances where players were arrested, hurt themselves and even endangered the well- being of children while supposedly “enjoying” a much-needed time of rest between two intense time periods of physical and

mental training. NY Giants star defensive lineman Jason Pierre-Paul tweeted a picture of himself in a rented van loaded with illegal fireworks in Miami, Florida minutes before he blew one of his index fingers off playing with those same illegal fireworks. This could not have come at a worse time for Pierre-Paul due to the fact that he was in negotiations for a new contract and had been offered about 15 million for this year alone and was working with the Giants to secure a long-term, 5 year, $60 million dollar deal. You have to ask yourself how minimal does the average $125 per hour rate that a life coach charges sound compared to the 75 million dollars that Pierre-Paul has lost now over one stupid decision that could have been avoided with proper guidance.  On the flip side of this extremely unfortunate ordeal, the Giants have potentially lost one of their best overall players and could have avoided this by assigning Pierre-Paul a coach.

Down in Tampa the same thing happened with Bucs defensive player CJ Wilson. Wilson was also in a “contract year” with his team and had negotiated $585,000 to play the 2015 season and was looking for a long-term deal with the Bucs next year. Now all is surely lost with the amputation of two of his fingers. Once again, the average rate for a sober coach or life coach is minimal  compared to the millions lost with these two players.

Now, players hurting themselves and ending their NFL career is bad enough, but it gets worse when the safety of minors are involved. During this same 45 day time period, NY Jets star player Sheldon Richardson was arrested after police clocked his vehicle at 147 mph. After pulling Richardson over they suspected him of DUI after smelling a strong scent of freshly smoked marijuana in the car. What makes this situation more alarming is the fact that there was a 12-year-old boy in the car with a loaded handgun under the boys seat. This incident came just two weeks after the NFL had suspended Richardson for failing drug tests. You have to wonder if Richardson would have been a prime example of a player needing professional guidance during this time period.

It’s easy to play “Monday morning quarterback” with these situations after the fact, but it takes almost a movement to be proactive and help stop this nonsense before it happens. Assigning life coaches and sober coaches to suspect or target  players during this time period every NFL season would be a great start.

This behavior can be avoided by calling The Addictions Coach at 1.800.706.0318 Cali Estes, The Addictions Coach – Miami – New York – Los Angeles – 800-706-0318 where we specialize in Sports Addiction Coaching.