NFL’s Mental Health Push Arrives Too Late for Cowboys’ Marshawn Kneeland

The NFL’s most ambitious campaign to promote mental health begins in earnest next week — but the effort to raise awareness about available resources comes too late for Marshawn Kneeland. The 24-year-old Dallas Cowboys linebacker, who just days ago celebrated the first touchdown of his young career, was found dead early Thursday from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.Police in Frisco, Texas, said Mr. Kneeland led officers on a high-speed car chase before taking his own life. His girlfriend told the authorities he was armed and struggling with suicidal thoughts.On Monday night before a national television audience, Mr. Kneeland dived on a blocked punt in the end zone to score the first touchdown of his young NFL career during the Cowboys 27-17 loss to the Arizona Cardinals. Young and talented, the Cowboys’ second-round draft choice in 2024 was projected as a centerpiece of the franchise’s future.By Thursday, he was gone.Just two weeks earlier a former NFL running back, Doug Martin, 36, died in the custody of police in Oakland, California, after suffering a mental health-related episode. Police said Mr. Martin, who played seven years in the NFL before retiring in 2019, broke into a home and resisted arrest. He became unresponsive in custody and was transported to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead.Months earlier, he had jumped from the second-floor window of a rehab center during an apparent psychotic episode.Mr. Martin’s family issued a statement last month saying the athlete had “battled mental health challenges that profoundly impacted his personal and professional life. Ultimately, mental illness proved to be the one opponent from which Doug could not outrun.” The two deaths hang over the NFL’s latest mental initiative. Over three consecutive weeks, one game per week will be designated as the “Raise Awareness for Mental Health Game.” The first designated game is Nov. 23 when the Los Angeles Rams host Mr. Martin’s former team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, at SoFi Stadium.Mental health experts from across the country, including representatives from the American Board of Sports and Performance Psychiatry, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, the American Psychiatric Association Foundation, and The Hidden Opponent, will gather for a pre-game panel discussion addressing athlete mental health and well-being, especially in professional sports.The second designated game is on November 30 when the Washington Commanders host the Denver Broncos, and the third will be on December 7 when the Arizona Cardinals host the Los Angeles Rams. A former NFL player, Marcus Smith, will share his mental health journey with a panel before the December game.“The NFL’s collaboration with groups such as the American Psychiatric Association Foundation amplifies the effort to address mental health needs as a unified front,” said a sports psychologist with the Rams, Dr. Carrie Hastings. She said the effort is particularly important “among a population that is still learning that emotional expression is not a sign of weakness.” Their message feels painfully urgent. The deaths of Messrs. Kneeland and Martin underscore the fragile balance between physical strength and mental vulnerability. Mr. Martin was a retired player wrestling with life after football, while Mr. Kneeland was just beginning what had promised to be a long career.After acknowledging the ramifications of CTE and concussions, the NFL has tried to address mental health for several years. In 2019, the NFL and the NFL Players Association created the Behavioral Health Agreement requiring each team to have a licensed behavioral health clinician on staff and provide mental health education for all players and staff. The league promised confidentiality and expanded access to family members.Progress has been steady. Several players have gone public about their battles with anxiety and depression including Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott and Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown. Their advocacy has helped chip away at a culture built on toughness and silence.“Post pandemic, we’ve seen an uptick in the willingness to have conversations about getting help and a normalizing of challenges like anxiety and depression,” the NFL’s vice president of clinical and wellness services, Nyaka NiiLampti, told the Associated Press. “There’s also an increase in the recognition that you can’t have optimal physical performance if you’re not optimizing mental performance.”The Raise Awareness Mental Health Games may have sounded like a marketing event when first announced. Mr. Kneeland’s tragic death has turned it into a day of reckoning.“His loss is felt profoundly across our community,” the NFLPA said in a statement. “We’re working to ensure that players have the support they need.”

NFL’s Mental Health Push Arrives Too Late for Cowboys’ Marshawn Kneeland

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