Green Bay Packers star Micah Parsons paid tribute to his former Dallas Cowboys teammate, Marshawn Kneeland, who tragically committed suicide last week.
Kneeland was allegedly involved in a police chase in the suburbs of Dallas before pulling over and taking his own life with a firearm.
Across the league this week, every NFL team held a moment of silence to honor Kneeland in the wake of the tragedy.
Parsons, who was traded from the Cowboys to the Packers before the season started, played alongside Kneeland on the defense for one season.
When Lambeau Field held their moment of silence before a Monday Night Football contest against the Philadelphia Eagles, Parsons was seen kneeling on the ground with his helmet in front of him and his head hanging down.
After the moment of silence ended, Parsons made the sign of the cross over himself, muttered a few words and pointed his finger to the sky before getting up and preparing to play.
Packers star Micah Parsons paid tribute to his former Cowboys teammate after his tragic death
Just days ago, Parsons’ former Cowboys teammate Marshawn Kneeland died by suicide
In the aftermath of Kneeland’s death, Parsons spoke about his memories of the 24-year-old.
‘Marshawn’s a guy who loved his anime, loved his video games like anybody else,’ Parsons said, according to ESPN.
‘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.’
After that, Parsons opened up about the abuse and pressure that athletes face and the toll it takes on their mental health.
‘We’d be fools to act like what we do isn’t enough pressure as it is,’ Parsons said. ‘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. ‘You suck. You stink. We hope you die.’ There’s a lot of harsh words and harsh things that get said about people.
Parsons remembered Kneeland and then offered his thoughts on athletes’ mental health
‘As athletes, most of us see it — some of us don’t — but we choose to wait until somebody passes to realize what we say and what we do, how it can affect people.
‘We don’t all understand what happened to ‘9–4’ in (this) instance, but mental health is important about being there for each other, whether we’re going through hard times or whatever it may be. It’s tough. It’s a hard 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 was 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.’
