Tommy Riles and Art Eddy bring on two guests, Eric Bennion and former NFL player Ray Lucas.
Eric Bennion talks with the guys about Movember. Life of Dad is teaming up with City Dads Groups, Dad 2.0 Summit, and the National At-Home Dad Network. Eric shares his story about why he got involved with this movement to promote men’s health. If you want donate to our cause click here!
Ray Lucas played for eight years in the NFL. He played for the Patriots, Jets, Dolphins, and Ravens. Now he is an Emmy award winning analyst on TV. Still between his time in the NFL and now, Lucas battled an addiction to painkillers and had suicidal thoughts. Ray recently published his experience and thoughts in “Under Pressure: How Playing Football Almost Cost Me Everything and Why I’d Do It All Again” from Triumph Books.
In “Under Pressure”, Ray provides fans with a timely, uncensored look at pro football’s play-at-all-costs culture. Overcoming questions about his size and skills as a quarterback, Lucas persevered and went on to play seven seasons in the NFL. His professional football career, however, came to a sudden end at age 30, when a neck injury caused him to collapse on the sideline during training camp. Instructed by NFL doctors that surgery wasn’t an option, Lucas turned to painkillers for relief, but as his tolerance for medication escalated and his NFL insurance coverage expired, he began to plan his suicide.
Just days before he planned to take his life, Lucas was put in touch with a group of doctors who agreed to perform neck surgery free of charge. In this tell-all, Lucas shares how — in a league without guaranteed contracts and careers that average just a few seasons long — players in the training room are perceived to lack the toughness necessary to succeed on the field. He discusses how this prevailing attitude leads to widespread abuse of painkillers and leaves many former players unable to lead a normal life once their playing career ends while also sharing details on how he overcame his drug addiction and turned his own life around.
Ray sat down with Tommy Riles and Art Eddy to talk about his book, his playing days in the NFL, and fatherhood.