Raiders Darren Waller Opens Up On HBO's Series-Real Sports

Las Vegas Raiders tight end Darren Waller spoke about his journey of drug addiction and how he’s helping others today.

The Las Vegas Raiders Pro Bowl tight end Darren Waller appeared in HBO’s Real Sports and spoke about his journey of drug addiction and how he’s helping others overcome it.

Before becoming the breakout star he is today, Waller battled through drug addiction since the age of 15.

From high school to college at Georgia Tech, and early of his NFL career he was sliding further into his substance abuse.

“Drinking four to five times a week, at least. Molly sometimes, Xanax, Adderall here and there, literally for me it was like I really didn’t care, anything that can change the way that I feel, anything that can give me that effect, I was pretty much down to try it,” said Waller during his interview with HBO’s correspondent David Scott.

After failing multiple drug tests, the NFL would ban him for a year, putting his football career at risk.

Waller would have a near death experience during the 2017 preseason. While he visited his local drug dealer, he was given Fentanyl and almost died from a drug overdose. 

The date was Aug 11th, 2017, and it has been the last time he used any illegal drugs.

Shortly after that incident he would check into a rehab facility in Maine, he called it a ‘Game-changing environment’.

It was there where he realized he had a god given talent.

“I felt like if I’m blessed with the opportunity to play in the game again, I’ll take that opportunity seriously, just how I’m taking every day seriously,” added Waller.

“After a fresh start with the Raiders, Waller miraculously turned his career around, becoming one of the league’s top tight ends. Now, he’s also putting in the work off the field, partnering with his drug sponsor to help save other addicts, by pulling them from the underground tunnels beneath the Las Vegas strip.” - HBO Real Sports

Now Waller has joined a local non-profit organization, Shine the Light, which helps in removing drug addicts off the streets, better yet off the tunnels.

Many beneficiaries would send a check to the non-profits, but not Waller, he’s out in the trenches with the rest of the volunteers trying to make a change.

“I was nervous my first time I went down there for sure,” said Waller. “I didn’t know what to necessarily expect, and it was just, like, this is real.”

Las Vegas has a dark alternative reality, where hundreds and hundreds of adults struggle with drug addiction and live in the subterranean tunnels of the world famous Vegas strip.

“It becomes a safe space for people, and that’s something that I was able to recognize and empathize with,” said Waller.

People have hidden away in these tunnels for years, decades and have called it their home and find it very difficult to leave or even reach out to get help.

“The fear of staying the same, becomes greater than the fear of change,” Waller told an addict [Jay] living in a tunnel.

The same advice was given to him when he was in rehab.

“Staying the same, in a sick way, becomes comfortable, it’s familiar, when really, stepping into change requires you to surrender control, relinquish control, but when it’s time to put one foot in front of the other, it can be paralyzing with fear,” added Waller.

“It was the same with my addiction.”

Waller continues to work with people who understand the struggles of drug addiction, and know first hand how it's like to live under those difficult circumstances.

Waller is currently in active recovery, and while it is a struggle and there’s no cure for this disease, he continues to fight and help others along the way to get clean.

Waller would end his interview by saying, “It’s going to be a struggle and a fight worth fighting for.”

The full episode of HBO’s REAL SPORTS WITH BRYANT GUMBEL is available on HBO and can be streamed on HBO Max.

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