The topic of NFL players missing games for the birth of a child has been controversial for decades, at least since the Houston Oilers threatened to fine and suspend offensive lineman David Williams for missing a game after the birth of his first child in 1993. In the opinion of Lions tight end Eric Ebron, a football player has to play football.
Ebron told the Detroit Free Press his girlfriend is expecting their first baby, with a due date of October 28, the day before the Lions play the Steelers.
“He better come on the bye week ‘cause I told her I’m not missing that Steelers game,” Ebron said. “She can hang that up.”
Ebron said having a son on the way makes him more motivated than ever.
“It’s just different,” he said. “It just makes you look at a lot of things a lot differently. The way you go about every day, the way you spend your money. It counts for everything in life so it just puts a lot of things into perspective and some of things like this, like playing football, what you’re playing for now, it changes that and pretty much your attitude toward attacking every day and things like that. It’s more motivation than it is pressure for me.”
With some luck, he’ll be there both for the birth of his son and on the field.