Former NFL linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo believes that some of his teammates smoked marijuana just days before playing in a past Super Bowl. Ayanbadejo, who reached Super Bowl XLI with the Chicago Bears and Super Bowl XLVII with the Baltimore Ravens, wouldn't name any specific players while sharing his recollection with Scott Fujita and Gabe Kapler on their "Unconventional Wisdom" podcast on FoxSports1.com.
"I'm not going to say which Super Bowl it was, but I just remember getting off the elevator one night. It was early on in the week, just to start the week off and all of the sudden I just got hit over the head with fumes of marijuana on the entire floor of the hotel that the team was staying on. And of course we had a few levels, but I could just imagine there were a few young guys just toking it up in more than one room," he said. "I was like, 'Man this is the week of the Super Bowl and you're just going in?'"
Listen to full segment below - Scroll to 29:50 mark:
With both teams in Super Bowl XLVIII hailing from states with legalized recreational marijuana, the NFL's big game has been dubbed the "Stoner Bowl." Marijuana Policy Project -- an organization working to reform marijuana policy in the U.S. -- put five enormous billboards around MetLife Stadium calling on the NFL to stop punishing players over pot use.
Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll told reporters during Super Bowl week that the NFL should see if medical marijuana could help players.
"I'm not a medical expert. We will obviously follow signs. We will follow medicine and if they determine this could be a proper usage in any context, we will consider that," NFL commissioner Roger Goodell told USA Today Sports last week. "Our medical experts are not saying that right now."