Tackling Injury, Addiction, and Recovery with Jeff Hatch

Jeff Hatch was a recent guest on The Recovery.com Podcast, where he told us his personal recovery story: years riddled with moments of doubt, uncertainty, hope, and love. Jeff played in the National Football League (NFL), finding fame and success as an offensive tackle—but eventually found his name in headlines for very different reasons. 

You can listen to Jeff’s episode here, and episodes with past guests!

Touchdowns, Injuries, and Addiction

Jeff Hatch grew up in a home that expected and encouraged high achievement and strict positivity, which Jeff embodied in both school and sports. He remembers feeling separated from others with big emotions and a big physical presence, standing much taller than his classmates. Alcohol, Jeff discovered, helped him fit in. He says, 

“Boy, it just, it soothed all those crevices that were there from that other stuff. I don’t know what the differentiator is between me and someone who doesn’t have what I have, but I know for me, once I felt that soothing, I knew that I was going to pursue it and keep getting it.”

Jeff left college with an Ivy League education and a new career in the NFL, playing for the Buccaneers and the New York Giants. Standing 6’6”, he looks the part. A smattering of injuries began the end of Jeff’s time in the NFL, with an opioid and alcohol addiction urging him along.

Reaching his level of success, Jeff thought his feelings of emptiness and incompleteness would fade, but they didn’t. His problem wasn’t fixed, and his self-medicating wasn’t working. On this he says,

“It really wasn’t until four years later when I’d had multiple back injuries, had a career-ending injury and had overdosed multiple times that getting actual help became what was required.”

Living a Double Life

Jeff sought and received treatment for his addiction to opioids and alcohol. He spent months in treatment, then living and working in recovery as a minimum-wage employee at a movie store. Recovery clicked for him—for a time.

Jeff began working at treatment centers, using his past profession and story to reduce stigma and encourage others to get treatment. But eventually, he began taking opioids again (following surgery) and eventually moving drugs across state lines for his dealer. This got Jeff in trouble with the Feds.

Once these charges came to light, Jeff was let go from his job at a recovery center and faced a prison sentence. He also stopped using substances. He says,

“When the DEA, the FBI leave your place and you realize you’re now part of an active federal investigation, you’re going to end up getting charged with a federal felony—and your life is going to fall apart, but not today. Somewhere down the line, it’s going to happen. That experience was the one that really forced me into the deeper work of the spiritual aspects of the 12 Steps.”

Jeff worked with the DEA and FBI, helping them with the case and simultaneously educating them on addiction.