Bud Holmes comments in the new book about Walter Payton

Bud Holmes, longtime agent of NFL legend Walter Payton, says his comments in the new book about Payton were taken out of context ... and that the man known as Sweetness was not a drug addict.

In a soon-to-be published book entitled "Sweetness: The Enigmatic Life of Walter Payton," author Jeff Pearlman claims sources told him Payton took a cocktail of Tylenol and Vicodin and kept tanks of nitrous oxide in his garage. He also alleged Payton was suicidal.

Holmes insists he never meant to imply that Payton abused pain medication and was simply talking about pills that "were only used to alleviate the aches and pains he got from playing the game we watch on Sundays."