Darren Waller

And we were talking, we would talk about like, okay, like we gotta, you know, we gotta stop.

Like there's a lot of, you know, good that can come before this.

Cause it was like looking like that was going to be my first year as a starter or at least like a major contributor on the offense.

And, um, but it would be like, all right, we're going to stop.

Like I'm gonna stop Wednesday.

And then Wednesday would come and be like, ah, I'm gonna go Friday.

And then Friday would come and be like, ah, through the week.

Once the weekend's over, I'll, uh,

you both were doing this you felt like a couple of junkies who were just sort of living the same life without realizing you were junkies you were just football players and this is what we're doing we're the two guys who connect here because we like doing this right and then um so over that it was just like dang like i'm saying i'm i'm telling myself i want to stop but i'm not able to but i still wasn't that moment where i was able to be like i'm not in control it was um

you know, two months after that suspension was given to me in June of 2017, it was August, August 11th.

I went and got some pills from the people that we usually picked up from and they were fentanyl.

They weren't really what I went and picked up.

It was like a less lesser than what I had usually got before, but it like, you know, I had a overdose and coming out of that experience was like,

That shook me enough to my core to be like, oh, fuck, like, you know, I'm playing with death here.

So that was enough for me to kind of be open to, like, suggestions.

And then, like, it was, like, a couple days after that, the Ravens team doctor called me, and they still get my toxicology results from the drug test I'm taking, and I'm, like, just pissing dirty, like...

Willingly.

And they were like, you know, we're scared for your life with these results.

And they set up a meeting for me to meet with like this addiction specialist in Atlanta and then met with the addiction specialist.

And then they were like, you need to go to treatment immediately for like, you know, substances and like a dual diagnosis for mental health as well.