NASHVILLE, Tn. – The Tennessee Titans were hard at work at mandatory minicamp this week, but they still made time to speak on an important issue impacting the sport they love.
June is men’s mental health awareness month.
This past season, the NFL tragically lost two players to suicide in Marshawn Kneeland and Rondale Moore.
A couple of guys in Nashville worked directly alongside those athletes, one of them being defensive lines coach Aaron Whitecotton.
He coached Kneeland in Dallas and still carries the weight of his loss.
“ I’m really thankful that we have his baby boy here, um, to carry on his legacy because Marshawn was a special guy, man,” Whitecotton said. “He was a special guy to me, and I’ll leave it at that. I miss him every day. I know his family misses him every day. This world misses him every day.”
Kneeland and Moore’s deaths prompted the league to provide more mental health resources for their players but help and resources only go so far without bringing awareness.
Enter Solomon Thomas, who has emerged as one of the biggest mental health voices on the Titans.
The defensive tackle from Dallas was also impacted by Kneeland and is speaking up for his late teammate.
“ If we don’t start talking about it, these things will keep happening,” Thomas said. “So we have to have the conversation. We have to let men know it’s okay to cry, it’s okay to be emotional, it’s okay to go to therapy because it’s the most preventable death, but we refuse to talk about it because we think this masculinity thing keeps us away from being emotional.”
“No, men are emotional human beings. It takes way more strength to be vulnerable and go get help and tell someone how you’re really feeling than it takes to be quiet and be like, ‘Oh, I’m a tough guy because I’m quiet.’ silence does not equal strong,” Thomas said.