Calvin Johnson, who retired from the NFL early because his body was starting to break down, said many players are choosing to do whatever it takes to stay on the field.
That includes taking painkillers.
"I guess my first half of my career before they really, you know, before they were like started looking over the whole industry, or the whole NFL, the doctors, the team doctors and trainers they were giving them out like candy, you know?" Johnson said in an interview with ESPN's Michael Smith for E:60 that debuts Thursday at 10 p.m. ET.
"If you were hurting, then you could get 'em, you know. It was nothing. I mean, if you needed Vicodin, call out, 'My ankle hurt,' you know. 'I need, I need it. I can't, I can't play without it,' or something like that. It was simple. That's how easy it was to get 'em, you know. So if you were dependent on 'em, they were readily available."
Johnson, 30, said he knew he couldn't do what it would take to overcome his injuries, of which there were many, to keep playing. The former Detroit Lions star underwent knee, ankle and finger surgeries. He retired in March after nine seasons in the NFL.
"I know where my body's at, know how it feels, you know," he said. "I know how it felt to one, get it to go every day. And to be out there actually doing it every day, you know -- the pain to do it. So I'm just like -- and you can't take Toradol and pain medicine every day, you know. You gotta give that stuff a rest, and that was one thing I wasn't willing to do."
