While he likes to point out that he was never fined or suspended in his Hall of Fame career, former Cowboys and 49ers defensive end Charles Haley met his fair bit of trouble -- or at least controversy -- in the NFL.
And now he's helping advised other troubled players.
In a Thursday interview with The Norm and D Invasion on KTCK-AM 1310 The Ticket, shared some of the advice he's given to defensive ends Randy Gregory and DeMarcus Lawrence, both of whom have been suspended for parts of this season for NFL drug-policy violations.
Lawrence missed the first four games of the season because of his suspension. Gregory has failed or missed at least four drug tests in two years as a member of the Cowboys, resulting in his current 14-game suspension. Early this summer he left the team for a rehab stint. And sources have previously said that he suffers from bipolar disorder. Haley, 52, has opened up in recent years about now taking medication for the disorder.
Here's the advice Haley says he imparted on them:
"Those two guys, you know what, I let them know every day when they're suspended that they let their teammates down," Haley said. "Because they were counting on you. And if you get a four-game suspension, that means it's going to take you another four games to get ready, just getting in game-shape mode.
Haley offered a little more insight into how Gregory operates as well.
"Gregory, his problem is he goes in and out of reality because he doesn't have confidence in himself. So if something goes wrong, he's in the tank. Something goes right, he's excited. And you know, I told the kid, I said I had to learn to adapt and overcome. I had to adapt to the way I felt about people and about things and about places. Tomorrow do you want to be cut by the Dallas Cowboys, or do you want to be a hero? Come from zero and become a hero?
"And those are the questions I ask. And you know what? I push those guys. They have to get help. There's something that's causing them to do that, and in all my years, I've never been suspended, I've never had to face that. Nobody took my money. And I told them they might be making too much damn money then because they don't mind people taking it."
He also shared what it's like to learn under him.
"Players, they don't relate that much with me because I tell them real quick, I'm not their mama, I'm not their pastor, I'm not their dad," Haley said. "I say, 'You know what? I've got a job to do, and I've got 10-15 minutes to do it. And guess what? Charles don't care. We're gonna get it done. It's about performance, right? High expectations. You've gotta have that for yourself. And a lot of those guys, I tell them they have low self-esteem and I tell them you need to do what I do every morning. I put a picture in the corner of my mirror, I walk in and say 'I love you,' and my mirror says 'I love you back.' I say 'I'm good now.'"
Haley was also asked how he would handle the decision of whether to keep rookie Dak Prescott under center or go back to Tony Romo.
"I don't know people that change the chemistry of the team," Haley said. "And Romo understands that that's how he got his job. History teaches you a lot. You don't know your path, then you're going to fail in your future. What did Denver do? They brought Peyton Manning back. What did the quarterback do? He started tanking. It's hard to look over your shoulder and know that if you make a mistake, they might put somebody else in. They have decisions to make. It ain't easy. If Dak's going to be the quarterback of the future, then it's going to be hard to keep Romo there. The kid deserves not to have to look back if he makes one mistake to be pulled out of the game. I don't envy Jerry and them in this decision. Because Romo's a great, great guy, a great friend. They won six games, almost won a seventh. And he's leading by example and by his voice. I love that, and I love that about him. He works hard. He's professional. If Jerry asked me a question, I hope you all know the answer would be the kid's gotta stay there until he just falls apart, and then Romo can come back in. But if he doesn't do that, you've got to stay with the best.
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