TJ Ward Offers Some Tough Love for Justin Herbert About Madison Beer: 'She's Using You, Buddy.'

Jerry Thornton9/25/2026 4:00 PM

Ronald Martinez. Getty Images.

TJ Ward was, to put it very mildly, a bit of a controversial figure in his playing days and his post NFL life. A three-time Pro Bowl and starting safety on one of the great defenses of our times, the 2015 Super Bowl champion Broncos, Ward is best remembered for moments like this:

A quick search of his name on Barstool reveals headlines like:

"Former NFL Player and Full Time Biggest Piece of Shit in the World TJ Ward is Blaming Coach Rivera for Getting Cancer" (Nate)

"TJ Ward Says His Suspension Won't Get Overturned Because 'His Last Name Isn't Brady'" (Feits)

"Belichick Gives TJ Ward a Death Stare" (El Pres)

So yes, it's fair to categorize him as The Man You Love to Hate. That being said, you have to credit him with the fact that he hits just as hard now as he did when he was earning all those Pro Bowl bonuses and getting suspended. He didn't pull pull his punches hauling down Julian Edelman well after the whistle, and he's not doing so in the podcast career that awaits every NFL player.

For sure, he wasn't sugarcoating it when he offered some Life Coaching to Justin Herbert regarding his fiancee. This young lady:

Daily Mail - Madison Beer has been brutally blamed for Justin Herbert's below-par start to the season by a former NFL star.
Ex-Cleveland Browns and Denver Broncos safety T.J. Ward, a Super Bowl champion, tore into Herbert's relationship as the reason for his disappointing performances in the first two games of the year. …
Speaking on the Speakeasy podcast, Ward said: 'When you get a girl, the little extra time you demand spending on your craft, she's demanding it. There's going to be a downfall coming. You're going to get worse.
'The time you're on the couch watching film, she's gonna be all up under you. The time you spend your Friday nights at home, she wants to go to dinner.
'The time you're rehabbing or staying late in the facility… now, you've got to go home and kick it with your girlfriend, especially if she's famous. Now, you've got cameras on you. Your offseason is in Europe and taking photoshoots….
'As soon as you start having a lack of success, Justin, this girl, Beer, she's using you, buddy. She's going to be out of there… Get back on your craft. She's ruining it.'
While some may agree with his comments, Ward faced backlash for crossing a line by blaming Herbert's personal life and relationship for his on-field struggles. …
Former NFL player Breidan Fehoko, who played with Herbert on the Chargers for three years, said: 'Lame… All you clowns at Speakeasy… Give a sports opinion, cool. Y’all got no clue how to read a room… Stop talking about people’s family. If it’s football, leave it at that.'

I have to come down on the side of Breidan Fehoko on this one. Even if Ward believes what he's saying is correct, you have to keep that to yourself. There's no way for a gentleman to tell another gentleman he's about to marry a woman who's going to ruin his life. Nor is there a man among us who hasn't considered doing so at least once in our lives.

Every circle of friends goes through it. At some point, we've all sat there in the church doing the math in our heads, calculating the O/U of how long this thing is going to last. But you bite your lip. Because while you know to a moral certainty the groom is someday going to lose his house and half his income, it's better that than you lose him as a friend.

By way of full disclosure, I actually do know a guy who tried to talk his brother out of marrying a woman after he found out she had a reputation in her hometown of touching everything but the third rail. On the way to the ceremony, he offered to keep driving, leave her waiting at the altar, and go hide out in a hotel somewhere until it all blew over. But the groom explained she was pregnant, and he had to do the noble thing. You might be able to talk to a brother that way, but not a friend. And certainly not an NFL quarterback you probably never met.

Besides, the truly greats can marry an exceptionally attractive, social-climbing, way-too-online celebrity women and have it not affect their performance. In fact, it's an obligation. Being a quarterback makes you an American icon. With that great power, comes that great responsibility. You're expected to get THE Girl. It's part of your role as a leader of men. They look up to you, and want to believe you're not squandering your opportunity by marrying some 7. Tom Brady did it. Josh Allen is doing it. Aaron Rodgers went through a lineup of such women. It's time for Herbert to prove he belongs in their mighty company, and still play at a Pro Bowl level.

If not, then maybe as Ward put it, she actually is "going to be out of there." But if you're Herbert, you're going to take those chances and do whatever it takes to keep Beer and your career going for as long as humanly possible.