Super Bowl champ Travis Kelce claims ’50 to 80 percent’ of NFL stars smoke marijuana, and reveals: ‘If you just stop it in the middle of July, you’re fine!’
- The NFL recently changed marijuana testing, making the rules far less strict
- Le’Veon Bell admitted back in May that he would smoke before NFL games
- DailyMail.com provides all the latest international sports news
Kansas City Chiefs superstar tight end Travis Kelce has estimated that 50-80 percent of active NFL players smoke marijuana.
Multiple states around the US have either legalized or decriminalized marijuana in recent years and the NFL amended its rules back in 2021 to not test players for THC during the offseason.
The league also changed the rules for the testing of players and raised the threshold for failing a test from 35 ng/ml to 150 ng/ml and removed suspensions for failing a test. The penalty for changing a test was changed to referral to the substance abuse program.
Testing was also limited to the first two weeks of training camp under the rule changes.
‘If you just stop in the middle of July, you’re fine,’ Kelce said in an interview with Vanity Fair. ‘A lot of guys stop a week before and they still pass because everybody’s working out in the heat and sweating their tail off. Nobody’s really getting hit for it anymore.’
Chiefs TE Travis Kelce recently stated he believes ’50-80′ percent of NFL players smoke weed
‘If you just stop in the middle of July, you’re fine,’ Kelce stated during a recent interview
The NFL recently changed rules around marijuana testing making them far less strict
Recently, the NFL and NFLPA committed $526,525 to independent medical researchers at the American Society of Pain and Neuroscience (ASPN) and Emory University for ‘innovative, first-of-their-kind, alternative pain management methods that could benefit NFL players, and society at large.’
One of those studies included researching the effects of CBD on alleviating concussion symptoms and ‘mindfulness-based intervention in sports medicine injuries.’
Back in 2022 the NFL also gave $1 million in research funding to medical research teams at the University of California San Diego and University of Regina to ‘investigate the effects of cannabinoids on pain management and neuroprotection from concussion in elite football players, respectively.’
Kelce’s estimation -especially when considering the rule changes- comes in on the low side in comparison to veteran tight end Martellus Bennett who said ‘about 89%’ of players were using marijuana back in 2018.
Former superstar running back Le’Veon Bell admitted back in May that he would smoke before NFL games as well, showing that not all players stopped in July as Kelce said mentioned.
‘Looking back on this, that’s what I did,’ Bell said on the ‘Steel Here’ podcast.
‘When I was playing football, I smoked, bro. Even before the games, I’d smoke and I’d go out there and run for 150, two [touchdowns].’
