An Image Free of Drugs Plus Charisma Are Major Selling Points for Dickerson

Eric Dickerson’s advisers believe he will be easy to promote because of two qualities valued in advertising--a clean image and charisma.

The clean image is more than just an image, he said.

“This is just me,” Dickerson said. “I don’t get into trouble. I like a lot of fun, but I like clean fun. Legal fun.”

His name, for instance, has never been linked to drugs. “I’ve been around guys that smoke marijuana . . . some old friends of mine in high school,” he said. “I never had the urge to smoke it. I did smoke it once in college. I can’t say I didn’t. But it never got me high, and I didn’t like the smell of it. . . . I never tried it again.”

Dickerson said he has seen drugs get the best of others. “I look at some of the guys that played in the league a long time, or (people that) do anything--have a car dealership or whatever--and they lose it all with drugs.”

Dickerson saw three of his Ram teammates grounded for drug or alcohol abuse and sent to rehabilitation clinics last season.

“I knew it was coming,” he said. “It was so obvious. You can tell by their actions. They just act wild.”

One was wide receiver Otis Grant. “I like Otis,” Dickerson said. “We ran around a little bit. I knew Otis was doing it. I didn’t ever see him doing it, but I knew he was doing it by some of the things he did . . . on our way back from a trip, the way he was screaming and acting crazy on the plane.

“We had just lost to Green Bay and Otis was outright screaming. I just looked at him and said, ‘Otis, what’s wrong with you?’

“That doesn’t make a guy a bad guy because he does drugs. I still like Otis. Some people drink, but they’re nice people. They just have a habit of drinking. Just because I don’t drink doesn’t mean I’m gonna knock ‘em.”

“I’ve been to places where it’s done. A lot of ‘em know I don’t do it. (They say) ‘Dick don’t get high.’ They know that, so they won’t even offer it to me. They don’t ever try to push it on me. I’m a grown man and I know what I want and therefore I’m not gonna be enticed.”