Anthony Hargrove Gets a Fresh Start With the Saints December 21
Defensive lineman Anthony Hargrove never faced any serious problems as a player for the Rams but in his personal life the urge to party overtook much of his life. He dabbled in drugs like marijuana, cocaine, and alcohol liberally until the problem reached its breaking point in 2006. When Hargrove became the personification of the crash and burn draft pick.
“I guess there’s always been something brewing in me,” said Hargrove” And I guess as I got the fame and the fortune or whatever, it kind of came to a head. It blew up. And when you’re in the NFL that kind of stuff gets publicized every day.”
“When it’s happening, you don’t really know how to deal with it. And you’re only coping mechanism is to use a substance. After a while, the substances aren’t working anymore. So now you’re just stuck and you’re miserable. You get on this downward spiral and you really don’t know how to get off. Unfortunately it took me some places where I wasn’t ready to go. You’re in denial and you think you can handle it. My life was spinning, I just couldn’t get it back under control.”
Getting traded to Buffalo was supposed to be a fresh start for the player but it didn’t turn out that way even after several attempts at sobriety. He was suspended for the entire 2008 season, again for violating the substance abuse policy. Having earned a reputation for substance abuse the player wasn’t getting called to join any teams.
But in May the Saints signed him to a one year minimum contract and he’s off to a great start thus far. As a defensive tackle, Hargrove started the past two games in place of the injured Sedrick Ellis and recently he recovered two fumbles (one of which was a touchdown) and earned the NFC defensive player of the week. The future looks bright for a man whose substance abuse nearly destroyed him.
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