After the NFL suspended David Irving for a third time, the Cowboys defensive tackle went on Instagram Thursday night to announce that he was officially fed up.
“Basically guys, I quit,” Irving said. “They wanna talk about a suspension and all this other nonsense. I’m outta there. I’m not doing this shit no more.” A few seconds later, he held up a neatly rolled blunt and started smoking it.
Irving, who has received two separate four-game suspensions in his career—the first for violating the league’s PED policy and the second for violating the league’s substances of abuse policy—was again suspended last week for violating the substances of abuse policy, this time indefinitely. That took away whatever desire he had left to play in the NFL. “I’ll Kaepernick myself before they Kaepernick my ass,” he said, referring to the blackballed QB.
Irving castigated the league’s stubborn mindset on players smoking weed as a pain reliever, and also said he wasn’t as rich as you think (according to Spotrac, the lineman earned a total of $3.6 million across five seasons):
I’m not about to be told what to do. Really, especially because it’s not what it seems. “Oh, Irving, you’re smoking weed for—throwing away millions of dollars.” I’ve been in the football league for, what, five years? I’m not rich. Still ain’t got a million. Still ain’t seen a million. I’m not putting up for this shit for no reason. You know, the shit they did with Kap, the shit they doin’ to my dawg Randy [Gregory]. I mean it’s one thing if everything was banned, but it’s not. Plants over pills. I’m about to type that right there.
He said he still enjoyed football, just not the league:
Everyone questions my commitment to football. Let’s get it straight, here and now: I love football. Football is—I mean, shit, it’s shaped me, you know?I wouldn’t be here without it. And don’t get me wrong, I love football. However, I don’t love the NFL. The NFL is not football, and y’all to understand that. What y’all see us do, the game and shit—that’s like, what, 20 percent of the real shit that goes on?
On the bright side, Irving can not only smoke as much as he wants, but he never has to work for Jerry Jones again.