Brett Favre opens up about painkiller addiction during NFL career

NCAA Football: Georgia at Tennessee

It’s no secret that Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre had an affinity for painkillers during his tenure in the NFL.

Favre had a history of concussions, as well as other ailments, and like many others during his time, he was given copious amounts of painkillers to play through the pain.

The former Packers/Vikings gunslinger has admitted in the past that he was addicted to painkillers, but never went in-depth about it — until now, in an interview with Peter King of Sports Illustrated. King mentioned a day they hung out together, and Favre had this to say.

“Oh, I remember that week,” Favre told King. “You thought, ‘Man, this guy’s high on life.’ You didn’t know there was a reason for it. It is really amazing, as I think back, how well I played that year.

“That was an MVP year for me. But that year, when I woke up in the morning, my first thought was, ‘I gotta get more pills.’ I took 14 Vicodin, yes, one time. I was getting an hour or two of sleep many nights. Maybe 30 minutes of quality sleep. I was the MVP on a pain-pill buzz.

“The crazy thing was, I’m not a night owl. Without pills I’d fall asleep at 9:30. But with pills, I could get so much done, I just figured, ‘This is awesome.’ Little did I know (fiancee and now wife) Deanna would be finding some of my pills and when she did, she’d flush them down the toilet.”

It really is harrowing how bad the painkiller epidemic was. Taking 14 Vicodin seems just a bit excessive.

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