For Jarrod Cooper, life after his NFL playing days ended has hardly been easy.
The former Pearland standout, who last played in 2007 after seven seasons with Carolina and Oakland, described his past decade in harrowing terms in a recent profile by the San Jose Mercury News.
Cooper graduated from Pearland in 1996 after earning all-state honors with the Oilers. He then played at Kansas State before being drafted by Carolina in the fifth round of the 2001 draft.
Cooper, who turns 38 on March 31, said migraine headaches have left him bedridden for up to 18 days a month.