It’s not that Marcell Dareus didn’t play well last year, but he was nearly more trouble than he was worth on his way to that point.
And when you’re the third overall pick in the draft, and a Pro Bowler, that’s saying something.
But after years of being out of shape and dealing with off-field issues, Dareus rebounded last year, and credited his teammates and the organization for helping him to that point.
“I’m in my Zen mode right now. Nothing’s bothering me,” Dareus said, via John Kryk of the Toronto Sun.
That wasn’t always the case, after offseasons marked by arrests and conditioning concerns. But last year, he looked like a new man, with 10.0 sacks, the most of any defensive tackle in the league.
He dealt with his share of personal tragedies, but also fell victim to some of the bad influences that remained in his life.
“I am gonna alter my life now, and alter my way of living — drastically,” Dareus said. “I’ve dropped a lot of friends that I thought were friends, just in the last couple of months. I don’t go around certain areas that I used to go around. I don’t hang with certain people. I don’t do certain things.”
He’s still suspended for the first week of the 2015 season for violating the league’s substance abuse policy, following his synthetic marijuana arrest. But he says he’s back on track after years of personal turmoil, and entering a contract year coming off his best performance, he’s just in time.