NFL Confidential - Paperback

by Johnny Anonymous (Author)

A pro player takes fans on a pseudonymous trip through one of the most infamous years of football--the very long, sometimes funny, often controversial 2013-2014 season--sharing raucous, behind-the-scenes, on-the-field, and in-the-locker-room truth about life in the National Football League.

"Well, to hell with being safe. I'm going to be honest."

Johnny Anonymous' life goal was to be nothing greater or less than the Best NFL Back-Up of All Time(TM). For two years, he was content earning hundreds of thousands of dollars to stand on the sidelines doing absolutely nothing. But early in his third year, a starting lineman is injured, and he suddenly finds himself on the field.

For most players, this moment is a dream come true. But not so for our author, one of the incredibly rare birds in football who reach the highest echelons, but who actually hate America's favorite game. That's right. Johnny Anonymous hates football. He hates what it does to his body, his brain, his life. Luckily, he can see the humor in his own situation, but also in the machinations of the NFL.

Part truth-telling narrative, part whip-smart commentary that only a true insider could bring, part hilarious, NFL Confidential gives football fans a look at a world most would give anything to see, and gives non-fans a wild ride through the strange, and sometimes disturbing customs and realities of football today. Here is a truly unaffiliated look at the nation's biggest, most lucrative pastime over the course of one of its most transformative seasons.

From hard-to-stomach diets, showdowns in the weight room, shenanigans in the locker room, the looming dread of being cut from the team, the racial issues that still exist in modern-day football, the rock-star lifestyle that players find themselves able to afford and sometimes enjoy a little too much, the notion of being lauded in a league plagued by controversy and the sharp contrast between the love/hate of the game and the reality of the job, Johnny reveals a never-before-seen side of the NFL.

Back Jacket

At the beginning of the 2014 season, I started keeping a detailed journal about my life as an NFL player. . . . Now, if I wanted to be safe, I'd get everything approved by the NFL, and you'd get a completely whitewashed, totally inaccurate, and extremely dull story about life in pro football.

To hell with safe. I'm gonna be honest.

NFL Confidential recounts a year in the life of the National Football League. It is a truly unaffiliated look at the business, guts, and glory of the game from the perspective of a dispensable underdog: not a marquee star, but a regular guy, a third stringer on the roster gutting it out through training camp to the end of the season, wondering every minute if he's going to get playing time--or get cut.

Johnny Anonymous introduces the diverse cast of players--the true believers, the hero types, the brown-nosers, the f!#k-ups, the a**holes, the complainers, the fighters--the egotistical coaches who torture them, and the fans who will invade their privacy and personal space just to get a piece of their beloved pastime. The hellish injuries, nagging coaches, pompous general managers, overpaid diva athletes, and the physical and mental toll the game takes--Johnny holds nothing back in this whip-smart commentary that only an insider can bring.

Part truth-telling personal narrative, part darkly funny exposé, NFL Confidential offers the faithful a look into a world they'd give anything to see--a wild ride through the strange, quirky, and sometimes disturbing realities of America's favorite game.