Dallas Cowboys proprietor Jerry Jones delivered an emotional message Tuesday in his first public handle following the tragic passing of second-year defensive finish Marshawn Kneeland, who died by suicide on the age of 24.
Throughout an look with 105.3 The Fan, Jones shared he was “devastated” to listen to the information, including that it was “simply laborious to imagine the content material that was on the opposite cellphone in the course of the night time after we all received the information.”
Police confirmed Kneeland was discovered lifeless Thursday morning from an obvious self-inflicted gunshot wound following a pursuit involving authorities.
Officers acquired intel through the search that Kneeland “had expressed suicidal ideations,” in keeping with the Frisco Police Division.
Kneeland’s demise got here simply days after he recovered a blocked punt for a landing within the second quarter of Dallas’s “Monday Night time Soccer” loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Nov. 3.
Jones confirmed the Cowboys will honor Kneeland for the remainder of the season with particular helmet decals, and the crew will put on commemorative T-shirts forward of their upcoming street matchup in opposition to the Las Vegas Raiders on Monday, in addition to their house recreation in opposition to the Philadelphia Eagles on Nov. 23.
“All of us are having to share the sorrow, all are having to share the other ways or various things that come by your thoughts. It’s not mild that as a teammate, Marshawn touched everyone in many various methods,” Jones stated on Tuesday. “The very definition of crew is we love one another, we depend on one another. That’s the ethos of what a crew is about. Everyone expects that it is a tough recreation, it takes some actual psychological toughness to play the sport, however in actual fact there’s a whole lot of love for one another there that’s shared in distinctive methods, and also you get to know one another fairly good.
“Sports activities emphasizes so many issues that all of us need, to a point, to hold our hat on. However it is a actuality test that on the finish of the day, the human issues of getting somebody’s firm on earth, with the ability to be concerned with them for the time that we’re right here, they’re right here, all of these issues come to thoughts in occasions like this.”
The Cowboys gathered Monday for the primary time in individual following Kneeland’s passing, the place the crew collectively grieved in an “extraordinarily emotional” assembly guided by head coach Brian Schottenheimer.
Jones was remarkably happy with how the first-year head coach dealt with the dialog.
“Schotty does have a realism about him as a result of he merely was born into it when it comes to being round something distinctive a few soccer crew,” Jones stated. “I believe all of us have unfettered emotions concerning the folks we love, folks we work with. That is only a time once you acknowledge that there’s no solutions. It makes you wish to reside life to the fullest, it makes you wish to search for the easiest in what we’ve got for one another, and in a roundabout way make some sense out of those occasions.”
The Cowboys chosen Kneeland within the second spherical of the 2024 NFL Draft out of Western Michigan. He performed 18 video games with the franchise, totaling 26 tackles, 4 quarterback hits, and one sack.
The Cowboys (3-5-1) return to the sector for the primary time since Kneeland’s passing in opposition to the Raiders on Nov. 17.
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