Although marijuana is placed on the NFL banned substances list, recently retired tight end Martellus Bennett estimated nine out of 10 players smoke weed.
"I want to say about 89 percent," Bennett told Chris Simms and Adam Lefkoe on a Bleacher Report podcast.
Bennett explained that many of the players use the substance to help take care of their bodies and manage pain rather than using it just to get high.
"There's medical marijuana," Bennett said. "So it's like, there's times of the year where your body just hurts so bad that you don't want to just be popping pills all the time. That sh--, it ruins your liver. There's a lot of these anti-inflammatories that you take for so long that like, it starts to eat at your liver or your kidneys and things like that. And a human made that. God made weed."
How many players in the NFL smoke weed? Over/Under: 70%
Martellus Bennett says WAY OVER pic.twitter.com/Nf8041rvNZ— Simms & Lefkoe (@SimmsAndLefkoe) April 11, 2018
Bennett, who spent 10 seasons in the NFL, isn't the first player to view marijuana this way. Former NFL offensive lineman Ryan O'Callaghan shared similar sentiments last summer.
“For people like me, marijuana is a godsend because you don’t want to take these pills,’’ O'Callaghan told USA Today. “Marijuana is not addicting. People who say that have never smoked it. I have an addictive personality. It’s not addictive.’’