Barrett Brooks Got Three Pills From Bill Romanowski Before His First NFL Game
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- It's no secret that former NFL linebacker Bill Romanowski used steroids.
So when asked about how Lane Johnson -- who was suspended for his second PED violation this season -- moves forward with a drug-less career, ex-Eagles tackle Barrett Brooks had some sympathy for the current Eagles tackle.
"People think it's just real easy to just go through that," Brooks told his co-host John Barchard (filling in for Joe DeCamara and Jon Ritchie) on Wednesday's 94WIP Midday Show. "'Oh just don't take it.' It's just not that easy."
Listen: Barrett Brooks on the 94WIP Midday Show
Brooks was the Eagles' second round pick in 1995, which just happened to be Romanowski's second and final season with the Birds. Romanowski, who is a four-time Super Bowl champion, was super intense.
"I can remember my rookie year, here I have Bill Romanowski," Brooks said. "Never said anything to Bill Romanowski, nothing. In fact, we used to fight Bill Romanowski in practice. Usually you tape your pads to your jersey just for game day, he would tape his for practice every day. During camp to, he would tape his pads every day. That's just what he did."
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Brooks went on to tell the story of when Romanowski gave him three pills before his first ever professional game -- a preseason game against the Atlanta Falcons on Saturday August 5th, 1995.
"It was my first game, it's a preseason game," said Brooks. "I'm hype, I want to play, I'm starting left tackle, and as I'm walking by his locker room he says, 'Hey rookie, come here for a minute.'
"I turned around, 'Hey man...I don't want to hear it right now.'
"He's like, 'Hey man, how do you want to play?' I said, 'I want to play fast, I want to play strong, I don't want to be tired.' He said, 'Here take this black pill, this white pill, and this blue pill.'
"I didn't even ask him," Brooks said. "So I grab the pills and I walk away.
"He says, 'Woah, woah, woah. You know what, you're not ready for the black pill. Give me that black pill.' He gave me an orange pill. Like a nut, didn't ask what it was, I took it. I didn't know what I took. I didn't go to sleep until the next Wednesday. We played on Saturday, I didn't go to sleep until Wednesday after practice. I don't know what he gave me, but I was up for four straight days."
In today's NFL, Brooks explains that Johnson just has to be more careful.
"People coming from all different ways giving you stuff, 'Oh yeah this is OK'. You just have make sure that we have to do our research understanding what you have to take, what you can take, what you can't take," Brooks explained. "There's a lot of stuff that's involved with that."
So what about the black pill?
"No, I never got to the point where I could take the black pill," Brooks said. "But if I did, I'd probably been up for seven straight days."