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Pat McAfee continued his trend of grabbing headlines for rather curious reasons on Thursday. This time, the incident happened at the 2025 NFL Draft, held — for the first time ever — in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
McAfee, appearing on his signature "The Pat McAfee Show" as picks streamed in, wasted little time making his presence felt. In fact, he looked right at home while sitting at the lectern, staying loose and confident in front of a gaggle of television cameras.
One reason why? A weed-like substance he appeared to smoke ahead of the broadcast.
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Here's what you need to know.
Did Pat McAfee smoke weed at the NFL Draft?
McAfee drew scrutiny after appearing to inhale from what appeared to be a dab pen (or portable vaporize) during a live episode of "The Pat McAfee Show" broadcast at the NFL Draft.
McAfee is no stranger to weed allegations; he's developed a bit of a reputation for partaking in an occasional toke here and there. Still, the sight of a television personality — even a loose cannon like McAfee — appearing to let off steam by ingesting THC concentrate took some by surprise.
McAfee offered the substance to his co-anchor, former Packers and Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy. The 61-year old seemed less than enthused at the prospect of sharing the apparatus with his colleague. He declined the offer, at which point McAfee launched the pen back to its sender in the audience.
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Pat McAfee denies using pot
McAfee offered a tongue-in-cheek explanation for his gesture on X, the website formerly known as Twitter.
"To my understanding," McAfee wrote, "this was CBD/vitamins from a wonderful dude at the draft last night...obviously."
"Right before we went live...a little altitude/attitude lift...thought Coach might've given it a go."
McAfee has been quite open regarding his affinity for cannabis. He and Chris Long famously discussed their use of the substance throughout their NFL careers back in 2021. Additionally, marijuana is nowhere near as illegal or as derided as it was in past decades. McAfee's invocation of the term "altitude" certainly makes it seem like he got high during the broadcast. But until he flat out discloses it, I guess we'll never know truly.
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Previous cannabis accusations
McAfee is a prolific maijuana user. He's been photographed gallivanting with his bong on set and proclaimed that he once took 30 edibles during a trip to England for an NFL London matchup.
In August 2024, former ESPN college football analyst Ryan Leaf accused McAfee of being high "80%" of the time during his YouTube show.
Then, there was Paul Heyman's recent appearance on McAfee's program. The WWE Hall of Famer dubbed McAfee the stoner of all stoners during an impromptu roast of the punter-turned-television-personality.
"By the way, it's puff, puff pass, not puff, puff, puff, puff, puff, puff, puff, puff, chase down the gummy, puff, puff, puff, puff pass," Heyman said.
By McAfee's own admission — and others' apparent observations — he's a stoner. That's not necessarily a bad thing. But it certainly makes images like those which took over social media on Thursday a real possibility whenever McAfee is out and about.
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