Keith McCants, Football Star Laid Low by Drugs, Dies at 53
By Ken Belson, 9/4/21, New York Times

In N.F.L. parlance, Keith McCants was a “can’t miss.” A
relentless & powerful athlete, he was a first-team all-
American linebacker at Alabama & was drafted 4th overall
in 1990 by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. His success seemingly
guaranteed, the team made him the highest-paid defensive
player in the league.

But McCants soon became known by a less flattering N.F.L.
moniker: “draft bust.” Days after being chosen by the
Buccaneers, he had knee surgery. A year later, he had to
learn a new position when he was moved from linebacker to
defensive end. The injuries and frustrations mounted as he
tried to meet people’s outsized expectations.

His promise unfulfilled, the Buccaneers released McCants
after 3 years. He spent 3 more seasons with the Oilers &
Cardinals before he left the league, his money & celebrity
diminished. What remained was an overpowering addiction to
painkillers, & eventually to other drugs, that consumed the
rest of McCants’s life & turned him into a cautionary tale.

After decades of drug abuse, numerous arrests, dozens of
surgeries & years living on the street — all punctuated by
brief stretches of sobriety — McCants was found dead early
Thursday morning at his home in St. Petersburg FL. He was 53.
The cause appeared to be a drug overdose, but Amanda Sinni,
a spokeswoman for the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, said
the department was awaiting a report from the medical
examiner’s office.

In & out of rehab & eager to share his story to warn others
away from drugs, McCants all but predicted his demise in
2015, when he was interviewed by The New York Times.
=========================================================[McCants Script]
KEITH: (slurring) I have mixed emotions about draft day.
It’s very vif-, difficult to remember detail of a detail
KEITH: I went in with a bad leg, and I came out worse than
ever, & if I knew what I knew today, I wouldn’t have done it.
KEITH: the NFL th-, they know what they gonna do before
they do it. They’re very well organized, it just it’s like
uh, organized crime
KEITH: & because I had a big salary, I was forced to play.
I was forced to be on the field, & that, & any-, by any means
necessary get McCants on the field. People come see him play.
We don’t pay him to sit on the bench, not that kind of money.
KEITH: My expectations, at 21 years old, was to get on the
field & prove that I should have been the number one pick.
KEITH: If I was physically able to do it, it would have been
no problem, but I did it with the help of medication
KEITH: after having surgery & being forced to be out there
before my time, it got worse & worse.. it got worse & worse.
Then the pain pills start kickin’ in-, then the pain medication
started kickin’ in, then the shots started coming.
KEITH: I became & addict, I became a junkie.
KEITH: I didn’t do as great-,, as good as I shoulda’ done
in the NFL, but I did pretty good-, I did pretty damn good
KEITH: some people say I was a bust. Well, I play that,
I play out of the position, & I did it well, & on top of that
I did it on one leg.
KEITH: but that’s when I had a breaking point, & when I jumped
off the boat, shattered my knee & couldn’t um-, physically,
I couldn’t no longer work or, hold a job. My body had
deteriorated. I did not, that I know it was degenerative
bone disease,
KEITH: & 15 surgeries on this knee, 4 over here, & (Sigh), &
you know (Unclear) the, the bad days & good days. That’s when
the depression set in & depression is the 3rd largest killer
in the world. I came home (hard to understand) suicide &
couldn’t be trusted.
KEITH: in that state of mind, I was lost. I was-, I didn’t
know who Keith McCants was. I n-, never know I existed. If
Keith McCants was not important, I was just a human being in
the world, trying to, think of-, trying to make it to the
next day. Wondering what I’m gonna eat, wondering what I’m
gonna do, wondering where I’m gonna get my next high, this
is what Keith McCants was.
KEITH: I was plastered all over the national television -
Keith McCants smoke crack pipe in front of the police, Keith
McCants pimping soliciting prostitutes, Keith McCants getting
arrested again.
KEITH: I’m not a good criminal. (Laughs) I’m not a real
criminal. I just (Unclear) to suppress my pain, & probably
get me-, get-, get me thru the day, so I’m gonna go on & do
all this. I would've bought drugs from the police, it didn’t
matter I was in so much pain.
KEITH: my momma left on her dying bed, I was locked up in
jail, 2011, June 1st. I was locked up, I couldn’t get out,
she died June the 1st, I got out June third.
KEITH: but I’m uh tell you a story. When I was in Alabama
prison jail, people don’t even re-, realize it, people don’t
even know, I was in prison jail. I hung myself,
KEITH: because I knew it was gonna hurt my family. I did not
want to be able to live with the pain. You know when I say-,
when I say you cover the pain up, I’d rather be dead that to
go thru this. I took my bed off, I tied it up on the-, on the
rack, I put it around my neck & I hung myself. (Audio gets
muffled as he demonstrates) I fell down unconsciously. Three
weeks later I went to a (Unclear) recovery. Two, three weeks
later, & this guy, was up there. He said, Mr. McCants you owe
me a hug. I thought he was just a regular old Alabama fan.
I said OK I got ya. I say OK I think I know you. He said you
don’t know me. I was like, OK, uh, uh I think I know-, when
I got to him, I hugged him, he hugged real tight, & he said
um, now I’ll tell you where I know you-, you know me from.
I’m the one who took you down when you hung yourself, & I
prayed to god that you lived, & you rose up. (Choked up),
=====================------------------- end of video
=========================================
“I live one day at a time; I’m a recovering addict,” he said.

“Tomorrow’s not promising. If I die today or tomorrow, I’m
all right with that because I’m comfortable with me. My goal
is to help people who can’t help themselves, to turn their
negatives to positives, to give them hope. That’s what I sell.”

McCants didn't just talk about his struggles with substance
abuse. He pointed the finger squarely at the N.F.L. Coaches,
he said, pushed players to perform without regard to their
long-term health. Team doctors handed out painkillers like
candy to mask injuries & get players on the field. And when
players were unable to perform, he said, the league turned
its back & focused on younger replacements.

“I'll continue to tell the truth, how they got me hooked on
drugs,” he said. “I feel it’s my duty as a retired player to
explain the difference between being hurt & being injured.”

Alvin Keith McCants was born on April 19, 1968, in Mobile AL.
His father abandoned him when he was young; he was raised by
his stepfather, James Turner, who worked for the city, & his
mother, Cinderella Turner, a cook. He's survived by a son,
David, & Keith Jr., whom McCants did not formally adopt but
regarded as a son; 2 daughters, 2 brothers, & 2 sisters.
He was married & divorced twice.

Widely scouted while at Murphy HS in Mobile, McCants enrolled
at Alabama, home to one of the country’s premier programs.
He left for the pros after his junior year, a bold but
contentious step at the time. He said he opted out of his
senior year because he didn't want to risk further injuries
that might shorten his career, & because he needed to provide
for his family while he could.

Some experts predicted that McCants could have been chosen
1st overall in the draft; he was ultimately picked 4th,
one slot ahead of Junior Seau, a LB from USC who played for
20 years & was elected posthumously to the Hall of Fame in
2015. Seau killed himself in 2012 & was later found to have
chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the degenerative brain
disease linked to repeated hits to the head.

The Bucs had losing records each of McCants’ 3 years in
Tampa, which heightened the scrutiny of his performance &
his paychecks. (He received a record $2.5 million signing
bonus as part of a 5-year $7.4 million deal.) McCants lived
the life of a celebrity player, spending freely. He said
that he was preyed upon by financial advisers & others &
lost $17 million.

He played in 88 games in his career & recorded 13.5 QB sacks
& one interception.

After he left the N.F.L., McCants, who studied criminal law
in college, became the first Black marine police officer in
Alabama when he joined the state’s Dept of Conservation &
Natural Resources. He joked that he found it hard to arrest
people because they often recognized him from his playing
days & said they were fans of his.

Yet the power of his addiction proved strong. He lived on
the street in Tampa for 2 years in the early 00s, worked as
a pimp & drug dealer, & spent time in jail, where he once
tried to hang himself. He spent stretches in numerous rehabs,
only to succumb to drugs again once he got out, as he
recounted in his 2018 memoir, “My Dark Side of the N.F.L.”