Dealing with significant jet lag right now, and as a general chronic connoisseur of naps, I wanted to look into NFL players who are as obsessed with naps as I am.
Carolina Panthers Kyle Love
NFL nose tackle Kyle Love was allegedly caught snoozing on the sidelines of a game. Love denies this vehemently, but we are not nap shamers, and the video looks how it looks.
Tom Brady & Julian Edelman
Former NFL greats Tom Brady and Julian Edelman both enjoyed a game-day snooze. Tom Brady, in particular, preferred night games so he could get some shut-eye during the day.
In an interview with NESN.com, Brady described his game-day ritual this way:
“I do like night games because I always try to get some time of extended rest during the day and hopefully a nap if possible, so I have a lot of energy stored up for the game.”
There is no nap like an afternoon nap. Or any other time.
NFL’s Greatest Napper and Safety
Any article about naps is incomplete without Ed Reed.
Reed was a night owl surviving in a morning person’s world, struggling with the rest of us vampires.
His peak performance time was at night, and he tapped into that skill. Ed would study tape with scientific precision in the evening.
As a well-seasoned night owl, my advice is to do it the Ed way and find a way to do important tasks at your peak performance times instead of fighting your natural circadian rhythm.
As a result of being a night owl, Ed Reed struggled with the early mornings that football often requires. Rumor has it that around the Ravens facility, if the safety had his hood over his face, leave him alone. If it’s down, It’s all clear to talk to Ed.
That resonates with my spirit.
Reed would often take a power nap in practice, next to his coaches. In one story, he was sleeping with his hoodie over his face. The secondary coach, Chuck Pagano, nudged him awake during tape. Reed told Pagano everything that would happen next on the tape and fell back asleep. He was 100% right about what came next on the tape.
The Late Great Steve McNair
The incredibly gifted sports writer, David Fleming, gifted us with some nap deets in his 2004 article, “Happy to be nappy in the NFL.”
According to Fleming, Steve McNair had a pre-game Sunday nap on the regular. He caught an hour of shut-eye in the locker room. Sometimes on a trainer’s table, a couch, or the shower room floor. When you really need that nap, no location is a bad one, minus the middle of a freeway.
David didn’t out a fellow nap enthusiast who he saw passed out on the carpet in front of his locker in the Detroit Lion locker room. Everyone was talking around him, and someone was calling him, and he snored through it all with a towel over his head.
I also relate strongly to that. Fire alarms and natural disasters will not shake me if my sleep is deep enough.
David Fleming swears that there was a kindergarten-style nap sesh during training camp for New Orleans. Nap time was between practices.
The locker room was darkened, the floor was covered with special comforters, sleeping bags, bean bags, and mattresses, and the team was sleeping in every available spot in the room.
Beautiful.
Fitzgerald – the Nap King
Recently retired (2021) wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald had an appreciation for naps that he must have learned from the Saints when he was drafted in 2004.
In 2016, Fitzgerald shared his nap haven with reporters—a small storage room in the Cardinals stadium.
Between meetings and practices, Larry would catch an hour of shut-eye in his oversized, comfy chair.
He described his nap skills like this:
“All I have to do is lay my head on something soft and I fall asleep,” Larry Fitzgerald said. “Seriously. I can sleep anywhere, any time. I probably have a slight case of narcolepsy. A healthy case of it.”
I have never related to something more in my life.
Fitzgerald was not alone. His teammates would also catch the occasional power nap. They were even encouraged to do so. One player had a baby at home, and sleep was hard to come by. His locker room naps were crucial for him.
Travis Kelce
Travis Kelce is the current open nap appreciator in the NFL. Kelce is known to take 45-minute “cat naps” at least once a day and up to several.
If I am actually awake by noon on any given day, this is also true of me.
As an elderly 33-year-old, Kelce knows he has to nap to keep himself healthy during the season (I can relate, Travis).
Fellow nap lovers, you are not alone. Most of the NFL shares our love for football, which is a sport of its own. I would have published this article yesterday, had it not been for a nap.
For articles that will wake you up from excitement, catch my works of art in the form of words here.
