Watch CBS News

John Moffitt Is On The Road To Recovery With The Eagles

By Joseph Santoliquito

PHILADELPHIA, PA (CBS) — It can be cathartic to recognize those crystallizing moments. Especially when you're finally able to proof them through a clear mind like John Moffitt has after a year.

What happened to the Eagles' free agent offensive lineman is still understandably hazy. He remembers the pulsating music of the Chicago nightclub, and being suspected by the club's bouncers that he had "something" on him. Moffitt remembers being pulled into a back alley, and assaulted by five shadowy figures that descended on him.

What changed him, he said, came soon after, as he tried in a daze to push himself up off the cold, damp cement on March 16, 2014, the salty taste of his own blood in his mouth and a Chicago cop hovering over him. He had a split bottom lip. Scarlet droplets on his shirt, face and hands. He vows he never touched anyone. They clubbed him. Yet, Moffitt was hauled off in a paddy wagon and spent 15 hours in jail, charged with drug possession and battery (court records show he was in possession of pot, cocaine and ecstasy).

But the 6-foot-4, 310-pound Moffitt, a one-time starting guard for the Seattle Seahawks, can tell you one thing from that living nightmare: he came to the realization that he had a substance and alcohol issue. And he was either going to come to grips with it or those demons would kill him.

It's when he stepped back and took inventory of his destructive milieu. He decided then that his victories would come in increments. He'd tuck his ego aside and confront the embarrassment of it all. He'd begin getting his personal and professional affairs together. It's what led to this, his second NFL journey, as an obscure third-string lineman trying to make the Philadelphia Eagles.

"That night in Chicago, that was it, that was rock bottom," Moffitt said Sunday during the first day of Eagles' training camp. "I can tell you I never hit anyone that night, but I was hit. I can also tell you I had a substance and alcohol issue. I got hit, was charged and I had to face it. I think I'm the kind of person who needs the hard lesson. And with my issues, when it came to that, I needed the hard lesson, and that was a hard lesson. The great thing about that night is that it led to my recovery. Rock bottom was sitting in that jail cell and hoping it would go away. It wasn't public yet. I was in there 15 hours—a long time."

To see Moffitt today, smiling, engaging, responsible, it's hard to think that John Moffitt—circa 2014—and this current version trying to resurrect his football career, trim and fighting for a starting guard spot with the Eagles, are the same individual.

It's a year, though to Moffitt, it could seem like lifetimes ago.

"It definitely does feel like that," Moffitt said. "I don't feel like the same person. I won't use the word reborn. I'm not there, let's just say I'm transformed from the person I used to be. I went into rehab April 13, 2014, and I won't forget that date. A lot of what I went through was a real personal search for who I wanted to be, despite dealing with my addiction issues.

"Once I overcame that, I was dealing with a bit of an identity crisis. You're always identified with football, and I had lost that. There was a difficult rocky period in my life, until I came around full circle. I decided this is what I want out of life, this is what I want to do again. It's what I enjoy out of a clear mind. I think I am who I want to be right now."

Chip Kelly likes what he sees from Moffitt. Kelly knows the mistakes Moffitt has made and wants to give him a chance. The Eagles thoroughly vetted Moffitt, who had offers from a number of teams.

"I think John made some mistakes in his life, he understands them, he owns them, and I feel like after meeting with him, he deserves a second chance," Kelly said. "He didn't blame anyone else. We investigated him, he actually worked out with Lane Johnson over the summer and we talked to Lane about him. He spent a lot of time with him, and figuring what John is all about. We're hopeful that he has turned a corner. The ball is in his court. It's up to him what he wants to do with his career in the NFL. He's on a one-year contract. We'll give him a shot and see what he can do."

A sweaty Moffitt wouldn't deflect anything on Sunday, his first time back on a football field since 2013, after playing two games with the Denver Broncos. He stood there and answered every question from a few media waves. For him, however, it was simple: He was back playing football again, in his element.

"I love it all, and it's something I never thought I'd say, because there was a time when I hated everything about football, and I was to a point where I hated everything," Moffitt said. "I dreaded everything. Now, that's really not the case. Football is something I don't take anything for granted. I had to get over my ego a little bit. The process of getting clean and sober was a big part of it. I've been clean for close to a year, before I thought about going back and training again. I got back into the groove of the lifestyle of being a football player again. I found I had to be honest about my situation.

"My personal issues outweighed my responsibilities. I got to a place, part of it from my issues, part of it because I was burned out and had enough. I'm sure that there are fans out there who quit their job because they needed the time. I think that was my case—I needed time away. When I got arrested in Chicago, sometimes the worst moments in your life can change things."

Moffitt, who punctuated his sudden departure in November 2013 from the Super Bowl-bound Broncos by saying, "I don't care about the Super Bowl," admitted the first few months of recovery were the toughest. He wasn't used to being bored. He needed to find a routine and that took time. The second Moffitt accepted he had a problem, his recovery began to progress. His defenses gradually lowered, and he says it's not hard for him to go without a drink. He went to Passages, in Malibu, California, to get himself straightened out.

"It's weird, because I saw a commercial for the place before I was going to go," Moffitt said. "It helped me. I really just needed a place to go and slow down, to pause, get some therapy and that was it. In 2013, when I quit [football], I came out and said I wasn't happy playing football. I was done. And it was really that simple. I guess because I did it so abruptly, and right in the middle of the season, I had a lot of issues brought up to me. There were a lot of people that could not compute it. They wondered if it was the money, right in the mix of the concussion thing, and I spoke candidly about everything. But my reason for leaving was discontent. It was a lot deeper. It's hard to explain in one fell swoop to explain why a person did what I did."

Moffitt says these last few months have been a surreal experience for him. He doesn't want to call it a resurrection. But if Moffitt makes this team and starts—two possibilities that can happen—it may be.

"Sometimes it takes losing stuff that you don't appreciate things until they are gone," Moffitt said. "I was almost gone."

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.