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New York Jets’ Quinton Jefferson Celebrates Three Years Sober
By Movieguide® Contributor
New York Jets defensive lineman Quinton Jefferson recently celebrated three years of sobriety.
“I was drinking every day. I don’t know if you know about the NFL, it’s one of the most stressful jobs in the world…One bad day you can be out the league,” he explained.
In addition to his commitment to the NFL, he had other life responsibilities and struggled to juggle it all.
“I was going through a lot of stuff — that might drive you to drink. On top of that, you got four kids and a wife — life can be a lot. And you use other vices to numb it out,” Jefferson continued. “You kind of want to block out that noise and now you want to block out that pain, but the problem’s still there.”
Jefferson’s wife Nadia explained how his drinking affected their family. The couple have been married for 10 years and share four children.
“I used to say he was a dead body in the room the next day if he drank, because he would just not be able to be active with me, our kids in doing things, that he needed to sleep,” she said. “He couldn’t function the next day from it.”
Nadia suggested her husband seek help for his addiction.
“I said, ‘You are an African-American male, you are a football player, you’re a husband, you’re a dad.’ I suggested he talk to somebody. Those are all very big things for somebody to carry,” she said. “The tension of having to move, having four kids, it just got to a place where like he was just out too much and I was just like, ‘We can’t keep doing this. We’re too old for this.’”
Nadia helped Jefferson to find a therapist, which he began meeting with once a week and continues to do so. Jefferson also confided in the Jet’s defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich.
“It was two men that are very comfortable being vulnerable, speaking about feelings, mental health,” Ulbrich told The Post, “A lot of things that a lot of guys, especially within this business and this walk of life are very uncomfortable talking about.”
“I think he’s more present, and I think he seems happier,” Nadia added. “And I think he notices more just in general about life and enjoys life in other ways more.”
Jefferson joined the Jets this season after playing for the Seattle Seahawks for three seasons.
During the 2022 season, “He played in all 17 regular-season games last year and tallied 5.5 sacks, 13 quarterback hits, and 29 total tackles,” CBS reported.
He was a fifth-round draft pick in 2016 and previously played for the Buffalo Bills and Las Vegas Raiders over his seven seasons in the NFL, per ESPN.
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