‘I’m blessed.’ Former Carver, NFL star Isaiah Crowell reflects on career highs and lows
The consequential Mercury Grand Marquis still is parked in the carport of Isaiah Crowell’s childhood home in southeast Columbus — a reminder of what the Carver High School graduate and former No. 1 running back recruit in the nation has overcome.
Owned by his mother, it’s the car Crowell was driving in 2012 when Athens-Clarke County police stopped him at a checkpoint and arrested him on weapon charges after finding a 9-mm Luger handgun under the driver’s seat. The following year, the district attorney dropped the charges, determining the state couldn’t prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Crowell possessed the weapon with an altered identification number.
Crowell, 28, now is a free agent, hoping for another chance to play the game he loves at the highest level after five seasons in the NFL. He returned home last week for an interview with the Ledger-Enquirer as he prepared for his annual pre-Thanksgiving food giveaway. Last year, through his Feed the Crow Foundation, he provided approximately 300 meals at SafeHouse Ministries.
He also plans to bring back the free youth football camp he had been running since 2015 until the COVID-19 pandemic intervened.
As he sat in the living room, with family photos and football memorabilia behind him, Crowell reflected on what he has learned through the ups and downs — and why he is working on a new way to give back to his hometown.
Abundant Promises
Crowell has been planning a group home, Abundant Promises, with his cousin and Carver teammate Latavius Watts, and expects it to open in Columbus in January.
It will have room for eight juvenile delinquents ages 11-17 and assigned to the home by the state to “show them a different type of way,” Crowell said, “… teach them about school and academics, staying active and just living life.”
Crowell has a personal connection to the group home’s name: He has exemplified abundant promises that haven’t come to fruition as envisioned, but he still has produced a successful and constructive life.
“I’ve been through things in my past and certain things I might not be proud of,” he said. “I wouldn’t take it back because it made me who I am.”
Crowell wants the group home to give troubled kids the grace he has received.
“I was given a second chance by a lot of people,” he said, “and I took advantage of it.”
Indeed, Crowell said he felt like he was on top of the world playing at the University of Georgia as the nation’s top-rated running back prospect. But those expectations were at risk when police told him they smelled alcohol and marijuana at that checkpoint, which prompted them to search the car.
To this day, Crowell said, he still doesn’t know who owned the gun or how it ended up under his driver’s seat.
After then-UGA coach Mark Richt dismissed him from the team, Crowell said he is grateful then-Alabama State coach Reggie Barlow allowed him to revive his career.
“Once I went through getting kicked out of Georgia, going to jail, facing all the adversity, I just felt like, when I went back to school, I got a second chance because I was good at football,” he said.
Crowell also figures he might have received divine intervention: His arrest came the same year his son was born and a nephew and a friend died.
“It was like God came to me and was like, ‘What do you really want?’ When my son was born, I was like, ‘I want to be successful.’ It was like a turning point,” he said. “… I thought about more than my myself.”
Crowell played well enough at Alabama State to be projected as high as the fourth round in the NFL draft. But he wasn’t selected at all.
“I cried and everything,” he said.
Cleveland Browns
But he took advantage of another chance after the Cleveland Browns signed him as a free agent. He received a three-year, $1.54 million contract and a $10,000 signing bonus. By the time he played in his first game, it didn’t matter how he reached to the NFL. He was there.
“Everything I prayed for came true,” he said. “… That’s crazy. I couldn’t believe it.”
And he played like he belonged. Among 2014 NFL rookies, he ranked second in rushing touchdowns (eight) and fifth in rushing yards (607).
When friends on opposing teams told him that his name was on their scouting report as a key player they had to focus on, Crowell’s confidence grew even more.
“It was reassurance,” he said.
Crowell continued to be a productive and reliable running back for the Browns. In 2015, he ranked third in rushing yards (706) among second-year running backs and had a career-high 952 rushing yards in 2016.
But during the summer of 2016, Crowell made headlines off the field for another controversy.
In July, after police in Louisiana and Minnesota killed Black men on successive days, Crowell posted on Instagram an image of a faceless person dressed in black and cutting the throat of a police officer. He deleted the image and apologized for it, but he senses some NFL team leaders still hold it against him.
“Certain people, most definitely,” he said.
Asked what message he was trying to communicate with that post, Crowell said, “When we start fighting back, then stuff will change. It’s not going to change by just talking about it or having a rally.”
But after learning why the post was offensive, Crowell said in a written statement back then, “My values and beliefs do no match that image.”
After his rookie contract expired, the Browns and Crowell didn’t agree on a long-term contract. He played the 2017 season with a one-year, $2.8 million tender. His rushing yardage total dropped to 853, and the Browns let him leave as a free agent.
New York Jets
Crowell signed a three-year, $12 million contract with the New York Jets and received a $3 million signing bonus in 2018.
Their third game of the season was a national Thursday night telecast featuring Crowell’s return to Cleveland as a Jet. He marked the occasion with a graphic touchdown celebration — wiping his butt with the football.
It was his way of telling the Browns management what he thought about their contract dispute with him.
“I felt disrespected about the whole situation,” he said. “… That wasn’t to the fans. That was to upstairs.”
Despite the NFL fining him $13,369 for unsportsmanlike conduct, Crowell said he didn’t suffer further ramifications from it.
“That really didn’t hurt my career,” he said. “… No regret about it.”
In fact, he landed an endorsement deal with Dude Wipes, a toilet-paper substitute for men.
Two weeks later, his 219 yards against the Denver Broncos not only set the franchise’s single-game rushing record; it also was the most yards per carry (14.33) in NFL history by a player with at least 15 carries.
“Not shocked because I know how good I am,” he said. “I got records in high school, got records in college, so it’s just football. But it is a blessing, and it does feel good, like I left a mark.”
A torn toe ligament prematurely ended his season in December 2018. Then the Jets released Crowell in March after their signing of free agent Le’Veon Bell.
Oakland Raiders
Later that month, Crowell signed with the Oakland Raiders for a one-year contract worth as much as $2.5 million. But a month later, he tore his right Achilles tendon during a workout, was sidelined for the 2019 season, and his earnings were reduced to $1 million.
Although he says he is completely healthy, no NFL team has signed him again.
“With running backs,” he said, “(teams) are always trying to get younger people and for cheaper. … It’s real frustrating. I know what I can do.”
He keeps in shape, working out four times per week, and periodically checks in with his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, considered among the best in the business.
“He just tells me to stay ready,” Crowell said. “At any time, somebody can go down.”
Crowell, however, insists he is at peace with his career.
“I know I really accomplished my dream, and I really stood out,” he said. “The hard work paid off.”
Crowell noted he has much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. He has both of his parents still alive, a son who gives him joy, businesses and charity work that keep him productive, and enough money to not worry about finances after proving himself in the pros.
“I’m blessed for that,” he said. “… There’s no reason to be bitter. … I’m not sitting by the phone waiting on the NFL.”
Then he quoted some advice he heard the previous day: “Stop valuing the stuff that you don’t have more than the stuff that you do have.”
This story was originally published November 24, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
