Sean Salisbury, the former NFL quarterback who went from an ESPN analyst to a punchline when it was revealed that he took a picture of his penis and showed it to co-workers, says the fallout over that incident nearly ruined his life, and now he wants to get back on TV.
Salisbury told the New York Daily News that he has battled depression, and he has also had physical problems including low testosterone production, which his doctor believes could have been caused by blows to the brain suffered on the football field.
“I’m a walking train wreck,” Salisbury said. “I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get better.”
When Salisbury left ESPN four years ago, he claimed it was a mutual decision to part, that ESPN had held him back on what he was capable of doing as a broadcaster, and that he had bigger and better things ahead in his career.
“Don’t get me wrong, I appreciated the opportunity ESPN gave me, but they had capped my ceiling. There was only so far I could go there,” Salisbury said at the time.
Now, however, Salisbury seems to think that excessive coverage of the penis picture incident led to him not only losing his ESPN job but also being unfairly blacklisted since then.
“It was a sophomoric thing to do that got me in trouble,” Salisbury said. “I deserved to be kicked a little for it. But I didn’t deserve to be bludgeoned. The past few years have been a rough, rough time. I hit rock bottom physically, mentally, emotionally and financially all at the same time.”
Salisbury also told Jeff Pearlman that he thinks he has shown more than enough contrition about it.
“I’m not apologizing for it anymore. I’m apologized out,” he said.
And Salisbury hinted to Pearlman that he has damaging information about ESPN that he could reveal but chooses not to.
“I kept a journal for 12 years while I was there,” Salisbury said. “I’ve got a best-selling book in my lap if I ever wanted to do it. You know? I’ve got it sitting right in my back pocket if I ever wanted to. [But] I’m not into taking guys’ wives and families away. I’m not into getting guys suspended and taking their careers away.”
When it comes to getting a career taken away, Salisbury knows how it feels.