Inexperienced Bay Packers’ Micah Parsons paid an emotional tribute to former Dallas Cowboys team-mate Marshawn Kneeland following his demise earlier this week.
Kneeland was 24 on the time of his passing.
Parsons, who performed alongside Kneeland in the course of the 2024-25 NFL season with the Cowboys earlier than being traded to the Packers for this season, spoke intimately about his former colleague forward of this weekend’s NFL slate.
“Marshawn’s a guy who loved his anime, loved his video games like anybody else,” Parsons stated. “To me, he always showed me nothing but respect from the moment he came into the locker room. He respected me as a player, he respected me as a person. So, I have nothing but high respect for him.
“If there’s anything his family needs, I’ll be the first person to help or offer anything I can do to offer a person. I just hope that he finds his peace and his family peace in the situation.”
Kneeland’s demise has raised questions on how skilled sportspeople are cared for on the subject of their psychological well being.
Parsons believes that the additional pressures related to competing in a top-level sports activities league just like the NFL make it troublesome for athletes, and he admits it may be arduous to show off among the extra visceral feedback on social media.
“We’d be fools to act like what we do isn’t enough pressure as it is,” Parsons stated. “We live in a pressure job where you’re expected to deliver and you’re expected to play a certain way, and when you don’t, it’s easy to say, ‘Oh, man, it’s so sad,’ but a lot of people are hard on people. There’s a lot of harsh words and harsh things that get said about people.
“As athletes, most of us see it – a few of us do not – however we select to attend till anyone passes to grasp what we are saying and what we do, the way it can have an effect on individuals. We do not all perceive what occurred to ‘9-4’ in [this] occasion, however psychological well being is essential about being there for one another, whether or not we’re going by means of arduous occasions or no matter it could be. It is powerful. It is a arduous job.
“But it’s hard to be a person sometimes. I think sometimes people evade that you are human. They try to go away from that. Sometimes you wish things were different because obviously, it was Marshawn the person that we wish we could’ve been there for him, not Marshawn the uniform. So, I’m just trying to be there for people more the person side than the football side.”
Parsons: The NFL is a brotherhood; individuals do not realise how a lot we’re collectively
Micah Parsons performed for the Cowboys and was Kneeland’s team-mate
Cowboys gamers have been away as a result of the crew is on its bye week, so Parsons has been one of many first individuals linked with the organisation – even simply as a former participant – to talk publicly since receiving the information about Kneeland.
Parsons admits that taking care of himself and former team-mates has been his first precedence following the tragedy.
“We should all just use this time to stay prayed up. Keep praying – praying for your loved ones, praying that people find peace,” Parsons stated. “And then also just continue to reach out to our loved ones. It made me reach out to some friends I have back home, former teammates, about how we took for granted the time we have together.
“Life’s simply so brief so we should always actually simply begin appreciating a bit bit extra and simply loving individuals proper and being purposeful with our intent and the way we deal with individuals and the way we settle for individuals.
“I have to find a way to embrace my emotions, embrace everything I’m feeling for his family, my former team-mates. I’ve got former team-mates that are devastated. They can’t comprehend it. Losing a teammate is like [losing] a brother. This is someone – people don’t realise how much we’re actually together, like time spent. That’s the challenge.
“Like regardless, the NFL is sort of a brotherhood. It does not matter who it’s. When you’re breaking sweat, breaking blood with somebody whether or not it is reverse crew or similar crew, it is a brotherhood.”
Kneeland was a second-round pick out of Western Michigan at the 2024 NFL Draft and scored his first NFL touchdown on Monday night.
The Cowboys are currently on a bye week and are due to return to action at the Las Vegas Raiders in Monday Night Football on November 17 in Week 11.
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