There is no need to smear my name or to defame my character for the sake of news.

It's funny, people say 'Welcome back' when I haven't gone anywhere.

I had this notion that everyone was staring at me and judging everything about me, from my appearance to the way I talk and everything.

I stepped away to find out more about myself, which I was having difficulty doing as a football player. I got a chance to travel the world. I studied Eastern philosophy, and I've grown as a person so much.

Depending on their fondest memory of you, most people hold on so tightly to their fondest memory they don’t usually let you be anything greater than that. And that’s one of the things I think I allowed myself to be a victim of earlier in my career. What I learned as I got older is I decide. I decide what it’s like for me, not other people. You can be whatever you’d like to be. You just have to choose it.

I am an honest, God-fearing man who is intensely dedicated to being the best person I can be on and off the football field.

What I would tell young players is that as you get older, the best thing you can do is try to have other interests and have opportunities.