Clinton Portis went from being a star NFL running back to hitting rock bottom post-football.
The former Denver Broncos and Washington Redskins star was featured in a stunning Sports Illustrated article by Brian Burnsed that was published Wednesday. The article focused mostly on the struggles Portis has had since he retired from the NFL at 29 years old after the 2010 season, and the most shocking part was the description of how he almost killed a man.
“Fortune pilfered, Clinton Portis contemplated revenge under the veil of darkness,” Burnsed writes. “On a handful of late nights and early mornings in 2013 he lurked in his car near a Washington, D.C.-area office building, pistol at his side, and waited for one of several men who had managed a large chunk of the $43.1 million he earned with his 2,230 carries over nine NFL seasons.”
Portis never pulled the trigger, but he came close.
“Prepared as he was to commit murder, sacrificing his freedom and his name for revenge, he never found whom he was looking for,” Burnsed writes. “But what if he had caught a glimpse before coming to his senses? What if their paths had crossed, there in the darkness? Portis doesn’t hesitate: ‘We’d probably be doing this interview from prison.'”
The three men behind his anger were Jeff Rubin, Jinesh Brahmbhatt and Fuad Ahmed, all of whom Portis alleges caused him to lose millions. Portis later filed for bankruptcy in 2015 after his bank account had dwindled to only $150.
The entire feature is worth a read.
Click to read SI’s feature on Clinton Portis >>
Thumbnail photo via Brett Davis/USA TODAY Sports Images
