In their helmets and pads, they look like gladiators. Invincible. Invulnerable.
Within each NFL uniform is a human, no different from the rest of us. They have issues, stress, problems. Their chosen profession can exacerbate the situation, since most players live under the constant cloud of learning that the "best interests of the team" have resulted in the team moving on from the player.
Throw in the scourge of social media and add a dash of disgruntled gamblers, and the stew can quickly turn toxic for the men who play the game we love.
The passing of Marshawn Kneeland in an apparent suicide has resulted in a stream of necessary and appropriate expressions of sympathy and concern for the player and his family. The more difficult issue arises from the desire to prevent tragedies like this from happening again.
And while most can only sympathize with the Marshawn Kneeland situation, Colts right tackle Braden Smith (at the far left in the attached photo) can fully empathize. Last year, a struggle with OCD derailed his season. Earlier this year, Smith went public with his condition.
“I was physically present, but I was nowhere to be found,” Smith told the Indianapolis Star. “I did not care about playing football. I didn’t care about hanging out with my family, with my wife, with my newborn son."
Smith said he believed he was a month away from ending it all.
Now, Smith is leading the charge for change. Smith's agent, Michael Perrett, outlined in a Sunday morning phone call the things Smith is doing to help other NFL players.
Perrett said the biggest challenge comes from having effective resources immediately available to players. And while it's important for all teams to have a full-time mental-health clinician, Perrett said there's a very real trust issue that arises from players opening up to team employees about their problems. Players worry that the information will make its way back to the people who shape the roster, and who decide which players should stay — and which players should go.
Years ago, before the advent of Uber, the NFL made drivers available for players who had had too much to drink. Most players feared using the service, because they believed the fact that they'd done so would get back to the team.
To address that dynamic, Perrett said Smith is working with the NFL Players Association to make a mental-health clinician available to players in every NFL city. Currently, the NFLPA maintains a network of workers compensation attorneys for each team's players. This would be an extension of that effort, with players having a union-affiliated representative who can be contacted at any time, for any reason. Big problems, small problems. Any problem. The clinician would then direct the player to the proper specialist for care, depending on the player's symptoms and/or concerns.
Smith, as Perrett explained, believes this approach would make players more likely to come forward and seek help when they need it. There would be no footprints back to the team. No complications with any of the player's current relationships away from work. A player could simply activate the process and talk to someone who is there for two important reasons — to listen, and to help.
Perrett said Smith also is working with the NFL to revise the injured reserve rules to encompass mental-health issues. Currently, a player who cannot perform his job duties due to a mental-health challenge must be placed on the non-football illness list, as Smith was last season. Perrett said Smith hopes that, in time, mental health and physical health will be viewed as equivalent on NFL rosters.
We've asked the league and the NFLPA for input and guidance as to any programs that currently are being developed.
This is a very important issue for all NFL players. Tragedies like the death of Marshawn Kneeland can be prevented. The NFL and the NFLPA must work together to give players quick, easy, and trustworthy methods for getting help whenever, wherever, and however they need it.
For players who need a ride home after having too much to drink, it's now as simple as pressing a button on their phones. That's the kind of system that needs to be put in place for any player who recognizes that, if he continues to internalize his feelings and concerns, things will only get worse.
NFL players need a simple and easy and safe way to try to make things better. And Smith deserves not only credit for trying, but full and complete cooperation and support in his effort to improve things for all players.