Even players who want the NFL to test for human growth hormones, who don’t condone their use by other players, understand their benefits.
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And it leads to the conundrum faced by athletes when a lot of money — and a career — is at stake.
“There could be a lot of benefits,” one unnamed NFL player said Wednesday. “If it’s very measured and under a doctor’s supervision, it could be good for a lot of guys.”
This player said he sometimes sleeps on his lazy boy because his knees hurt him too much to go upstairs. So HGH might help his knees and provide him not only with a chance to play but to avoid breaking down physically after his playing days end.
The NFL does not test for HGH, which supposedly adds strength and body mass while also allowing athletes to recover more quickly between workouts.
This player estimates at least six or seven players a team use HGH, though he said he’s never witnessed anyone being injected with the substance.
As he said, “If you can get one or two more good years and one good contract, you’re talking millions of dollars. But it’s only a matter of time before they’ll test, and what happens is you’ll see a number of guys retire because they don’t want to face the [fallout] or because they won’t be able to play anymore without it.”
He doesn’t believe the tests would stay a secret.
“Look what happened in baseball,” he said. “Nothing is ever fully confidential, and nothing is destroyed.”
– John Keim
