Puff, puff, I’ll pass: Cowboys’ lineman David Irving quits football, lashes out at NFL
While inhaling, the five year league veteran says he's had enough of the injuries and pain and would rather leave than put up with the NFL's ban on marijuana
Dallas Cowboys’ defensive end David Irving who is currently suspended for violation of the NFL’s substance abuse policy not only quit football via social media, but made sure he went out with a blaze.
On Thursday, the 25-year-old took to Instagram to tell the league just what it can do with its policy as he puffed on what appeared to be a lit blunt, according to the Sporting News.
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“So basically guys, I quit,” he said. “They want to talk about a suspension and all this other nonsense, I’m out of there, I’m not doing this s— no more.”
This is actually Irving’s latest suspension for the violation, which stretches back to 2018 after he played just two games for the Cowboys at the start of the season.
Last week he got his third suspension of his career and ultimately came to the conclusion that that he had to choose between weed and the gridiron.
“There’s a lot of s— f—ed up about the NFL,” he said. “We got this opioid thing going on. I’m prescribed to all that bulls—. … The s— they did with Kap [Colin Kaepernick]. The sh— they’re doing to my dog Randy [Gregory]. It’s one thing if everything was banned, but it’s not. Plants over pills.”
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Last week, Randy Gregory, Irving’s teammate and fellow defensive end, was also suspended indefinitely by the NFL for alleged substance abuse issues.
Irving is a 6’7″ defenseman drafted by the Cowboys out of Iowa State and was in his fifth season when he was suspended.
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According to ESPN, Irving said his issue was squarely with the league, not the sport.
“Everyone questions my commitment to football, but let’s get it straight, here and now,” he said. “I love football. … I wouldn’t be here without it. Don’t get me wrong, I love football. However, I don’t love the NFL. The NFL is not football, you need to understand that. What you all see us do, the game and s—, that’s, what, 20 percent of all the real s— we’re doing.”
The NFL’s marijuana use policy has been heavily criticized in light of the injuries and subsequent health problems experienced by both players and retirees. People who have called for the league to relax or eliminate its rules say the plant could serve as a medication and treatment for extreme fatigue and pain.
Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said in a 2017 interview with NBC Sports’ Pro Football Talk Live that the team should re-examine its approach to the drug.
“In my opinion, we should take a long hard look at how we’re doing this and see if there’s a way, a better way to do it,” he said. “What that is, I don’t have the answer. But we have a lot of smart people that can get in there and analyze something and really make some good decisions and see if there need to be changes.”
Some owners had discussed easing marijuana restrictions in 2016 when negotiations with the NFL Players Association had come up, according to the NFL, but they did not result in any significant change to the rules.
