And he partied. Unshackled from the weekly schedules built around Sunday games, he was free to smoke marijuana, binge drink with college buddies and experiment with harder drugs. His relationship with his girlfriend soured, so he took to the road, staying with his parents in Connecticut and meeting up with friends in Los Angeles, Miami, New York and beyond.

Just before St. Patrick’s Day, he hit bottom. After a day of drinking with friends in Chicago, he ended up alone in a basement club. A bouncer spotted him with a sunglasses case that was filled with a gram of cocaine, 10 grams of marijuana and four ecstasy pills. A scuffle ensued, and he was arrested and charged with battery and three counts of drug possession. He was released on his own recognizance a half-day later.

The night in jail woke him up. Not only did he face more time in jail, but the story of his arrest was splashed on the Internet. His relationship with his girlfriend dissolved and book publishers withdrew interest in his story.

“It was like I jumped off a cliff,” Moffitt said of his arrest and the negative publicity that followed. “Those opportunities fell by the wayside. But it also sent me in a different direction.”

Before the drug charges were dismissed and he pleaded guilty to the other charge (he was fined $254), Moffitt enrolled in Passages, a high-end rehabilitation clinic in Malibu, Calif. There, he weaned himself off drugs and alcohol and let go of the pressure he felt to meet the expectations that others had for him, though fellow residents at the clinic quizzed him unendingly about his life in the N.F.L.

“The biggest thing was that I realized so many people were depending on me, and I felt that my only value is my production as a football player,” he said. “Whether it was expectations or money or the way I live, if I don’t meet everyone’s expectations, I’m a loser. It is out of love, but I felt like I was holding up this huge support system that was supposed to be my support system.”