He didn’t name any names, but he did say enough to get ears perked up, and the conspiracy theorist out.
Brady Quinn was one of the most well conditioned, maintained athletes on the planet at the height of his success leaving Notre Dame.
Quinn could be found on the cover of fitness magazines, and even had an endorsement deal with EAS before flaming out in the NFL.
So it’s ironic that Quinn is now insinuating that today’s top NFL players may be dropping like flies via injury because of rampant HGH use.
While appearing on the Roughing the Passer podcast on CBS Sports this week, Quinn unleashed his theory on HGH.
“I’m not going to be a whistleblower and I’m not accusing anyone of anything,” Quinn said. “There’s got to be something these guys are taking. That’s what I think at least.”
“When you’re the starter, you have your annual [test] and you have one surprise [test] or one unknown [test],” Quinn said. “But beyond that, you don’t get tested quite as often. It’s really the backups or older players.”
You’re not a whistle-blower, but you felt the need to bring it up on a national radio platform.
The Steelers lost Le’Veon Bell for the season, the Chargers lost wide receiver Keenan Allen, the Ravens lost Steve Smith, the Saints lost Khiry Robinson, the Dolphins lost Cameron Wake and those are only a handful of the injuries that were suffered in Week 8.
Although Quinn thinks HGH is likely playing a part in this recent rash of NFL injuries, he stayed away from accusations and name dropping.
“I’m not accusing anyone,” Quinn said. “But I think the usage of of HGH or performance enhancing drugs or supplements is greater now than it’s ever been because the money is bigger now than it’s ever been and the punishment isn’t really that bad if you think about it.”
“If you’re a top-of-the-line guy and you’re getting $16 million a year — you’re getting a million bucks a game — if you get popped for taking something that helps you get that big-time contract or hit that incentive in your contract where you get paid all of the sudden in your contract year, guess what? First [failed test], four-game [suspension],” Quinn said “Let’s talk about financially, ‘Am I going to sacrifice $4 million in order for me to get that big contract on the back-end? Yea, I am.'”
“When I first got into the league, it was the steriod era so that was a whole different world,” Kirwan said. “I think the subtlety of HGH has encouraged more guys to try it and get involved. I think a lot of guys feel like if they don’t, they won’t be in the league.”
Just because players are getting injured doesn’t mean it has to be HGH use, though. Quinn also had several other theories on why guys are going down this season.
Quinn told CBS Sports senior NFL writer Pete Prisco that he believes “40 to 50 percent of guys are taking something” they shouldn’t be taking.
I believe Quinn did once as well.