Berea, OH (92.3 The Fan) – Antonio Callaway suffered his first setback with the Browns Saturday afternoon.
On the field.
Callaway suffered a toe injury that forced him from practice and into the trainer’s room, but Callaway has a much bigger picture to deal with – his life and raising his daughter.
The team isn’t sure of the severity of the injury, but prior to Saturday’s practice Callaway fielded questions and took ownership for his past transgressions that cost what general manager John Dorsey described as a first-round talent to drop in the draft and subsequently cost him millions in a rookie contract.
“I agree with John 100 percent,” a softly spoken Callaway said. “Some of my choices that I made in my past caused me to fall a couple of rounds. I have learned from them, moved on and became a better person and learned from mistakes day by day. Taking it day by day still, growing and maturing.”
Callaway doesn’t think putting his past behind him and beginning a fresh start in Cleveland will be difficult.
“It’s going to be easy because I’ve got a purpose now. I’ve got a daughter,” Callaway said. “Ain’t nobody going to make sure she’s taken care of, so I’ve got to do my job.”
His daughter, Aulani, will be 3 months old next week and he’s using her as motivation to get his life on the right track.
“I already know what I’ve got to do,” Callaway said. “I know I’ve got to provide, so I’ve got to stay focused on my behalf.”
Dorsey believes in Callaway, which is why he traded up 9 spots with New England in the fourth round to select him.
“This here is just telling [me] that he believes in me, that I can do the right things,” Callaway said. “For somebody to put their job on the line, I can’t let him down.”
Head coach Hue Jackson, who has dealt with troubled players before during his time in Cincinnati, is also behind the receiver and willing to help as long as he is willing to help himself.
“We both sat down with him and had a very up front, candid conversation with him,” Jackson said Friday. “I think he knows that he has our support and that we are going to do anything and everything that we can to assist him off of the field first to make sure that is right, and that we have no tolerance for things that are not becoming of the Cleveland Browns. We are not going to dabble into any of that. I think he got that message loud and clear.
“I think he is up to the challenge. Our job is to assist him each and every day, every opportunity we can and help him be a good teammate and a good football player.”
Callaway explained just how difficult his childhood was growing up in the toughest part of Miami with his mother and 4 sisters.
“It’s hard where I’m from,” Callaway said. “The worst of the worst. From killing to drug selling to you name it, I’ve seen it at a young age.
“Growing up, I said I didn’t want that life, so I stuck with football. I wasn’t a troubled kid. I ain’t never get in trouble till I got to college.”
His football talent got him into college at Florida but trouble followed.
Callaway was cleared by a Title IX hearing officer of a 2015 sexual battery allegation and he was never charged but Florida suspended him for spring practice in 2016 during the probe in which he testified that he was too high on marijuana to commit a crime.
In 2017 Callaway pleaded no contest to possession of drug paraphernalia (marijuana) in May and later suspended by the university for the entire season after being part of an investigation into credit card fraud.
“I was young. I was immature. I was just living in the moment,” Callaway said. “I had to grow and learn from my mistakes. I am past those.”
With the trouble at Florida behind him, he then failed a drug test at the NFL Combine in early March.
“I had a diluted sample,” Callaway said. “I did not intentionally do it. I take responsibility for my test.”
He admitted that the failed test, which nearly cost him a chance at the NFL, finally opened his eyes.
“That was a wake-up call,” Callaway said. “Day by day, today I am still getting better as a person, as a player, as a man and as a father. I have a daughter.”
Steelers receiver Antonio Brown has taken Callaway under his wing in an effort to mentor a talented player in need of help.
“He reached out to me on Twitter,” Callaway said. “I connected with him like that. Basically just been mentoring me, telling me that I have too much talent to let it go to waste. Where we are from, Miami, Fla., people rarely make it out. I am one of the few to be able to say I was blessed to be drafted by the Cleveland Browns.”
Callaway understands the chance the Browns took on him and he hopes to reward their faith with a better life and a productive career.
