Ex-Dolphins Coach Chris Foerster Opens Up About Cocaine Video: "It's What I Needed"

On Oct. 9, Dolpins offensive line coach Chris Foerster resigned after a video showing him snorting lines of cocaine was released by Las Vegas model Kijuana Nige. After releasing the video, Nige talked to the press, saying that “a point had to be proven” about white privilege. Since then, all has been quiet until yesterday, when Foerster opened up to NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero about his issues with substance abuse and his efforts towards recovery.

Foerster says he has had alcohol issues for around 30 years, though he didn’t start doing cocaine until 2015, when he was with the 49ers, which “put the accelerator on” his addiction troubles. He found Nige in a “back page ad” in California in September when the Dolphins were in California, and the two proceeded to go on a eight- or nine-day bender which ended when Foerster made the now-infamous video just before the Dolphins traveled to London to play the Saints on Oct. 1. He says it was the last time he used cocaine, and he did so much because he was trying to get rid of his stash before boarding the plane to London.

The night that Nige released the tape, coach Adam Gase and a Dolphins security employee spoke with Foerster, and after he showed up to the team facility to go over tape, he was told to go home. He later asked for a leave of absence, but resigned after the Dolphins requested he do so. Foerster was checked into rehab by that night, and he’s now in outpatient treatment and is part of a twelve-step program. His life is now an ascetic one as he tries to reckon with decades of addiction, yet he still said he’s never felt better or happier. Of his three children, only one has spoken to him, and he still hopes to repair what he can of their relationship and maybe even coach again someday.

“The No. 1 consequence for me is I have a chance to fix my life,” he said. “I have a chance to get well, I have a chance to get right, I have a chance to get better, I have a chance to try to repair relationships that may be destroyed and ruined for the rest of my life. But I have a chance to get it right, man. And I’m sincere in that.

Ultimately, Foerster seems to have made his peace, and he says that even during the depths of his addiction, he never performed his duties as offensive line coach under the influence. He says he deeply wants to coach again, but understands that he may have burnt his bridges.

“I made a terrible mistake and I’m responsible for it, and I didn’t go to treatment because I wanted to get my job back. I knew this s—- was out of control. It’s been the most humbling experience. But it’s what I needed.”

[ NFL]