Packers linebacker Erik Walden spent last Thanksgiving weekend in jail after he was arrested for battery following an incident with his girlfriend. Walden eventually worked out a deal that let him off with counseling and community service and no further jail time, but he now says that weekend in jail was good for him.
Walden told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he has
“It’s the first time I ever sat down and did some thinking,” Walden said. “What have I accomplished? Where have I been? You never want anything like that to happen, but at the end of the day, it made me stronger mentally to prepare myself for everything that’s going on - the perception and all of that. I’m good now.”
What Walden really thought about was what he wants to make of his football career, and how he can’t let off-field incidents derail that career.
“Now, man, I feel good. Football is easy now,” Walden said. “After going through what I went through last year, I look at it totally different. Football ain’t hard. This is fun. That’s my approach to it.”
Walden is no lock to even make the Packers’ roster this year, but he said he knows he needs to turn his life around so that he’s never behind bars again.
“I don’t wish that on anyone,” Walden said. “Every man can’t even handle that. Hopefully I’ll be strong enough to get through that. Even if my play fell off a little bit, at the end of the day, I’m a better man.”
