Dallas Cowboys

When the Packers traded quarterback Brett Favre to the Jets in 2008, Green Bay included a poison pill aimed at preventing the Jets from re-trading him to another team in the NFC North. The Packers had a similar term foisted on them in the trade that brought Micah Parsons from the Cowboys to Green Bay.

Via Adam Schefter of ESPN.com, the Packers will owe the Cowboys a first-round pick in 2028 if the Packers trade Parsons to a team in the NFC East.

The Eagles made a big push for Parsons. The Cowboys refused to trade him to a division rival.

The Parsons also included a poison pill for the other player in the transaction. If the Cowboys trade defensive tackle Kenny Clark to another team in the NFC North, Dallas will owe Green Bay a 2028 first-round pick.

In the Favre trade, the cost of a re-trade was three first-round picks. The Jets cut Favre after one year, and he signed with the Vikings.

Plenty of teams have an aversion to their players ending up with division rivals. Which is fine, unless that causes them to get less value for their assets. Other teams simply want the best deal they can get, regardless of where the player goes.

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.

This week, Cowboys defensive end Marshawn Kneeland died in an apparent suicide at the age of 24.

This weekend, per multiple reports, the NFL has asked teams to hold a moment of silence for Marshawn before every game.

The Broncos had a moment of silence for Marshawn before Thursday night’s game against the Raiders. Before Sunday morning’s game in Berlin between the Falcons and Colts, a moment of silence was held. In both instances, the gesture was followed by a message regarding available resources for suicide prevention.

There is much more that can be done for NFL players when it comes to spotting mental-health issues and addressing them, not only when the situation becomes critical but when problems first arise. We’ll have something later today about the various efforts that were already underway before the recent tragedy.

It will require cooperation, collaboration, and determination. The desire is there. Marshawn Kneeland’s passing will hopefully be the catalyst for the kind of changes that will benefit all players, current and future.

The Bills did not make any trades this week, but it reportedly wasn’t because of a lack of interest in adding to their roster.

Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports that the team tried to make deals with the Dolphins for wide receiver Jaylen Waddle and with the Jets for defensive tackle Quinnen Williams, but ultimately were unable to come to agreements with the two AFC East teams.

Waddle was the subject of a lot of conversation heading into the deadline and word this week was that teams who called about the wideout found that their asking price was too high. Mike Garafolo of NFL Media reports they were looking for a package centered around a first-round pick and that the price for dealing him within the division would have been higher.

Williams was ultimately traded to the Cowboys for a first-round pick, a second-round pick and defensive tackle Mazi Smith.

In the fourth quarter of Monday night’s game against the Cardinals, the Cowboys were down by 10 points and driving. After making a catch for a first down in Arizona territory, Pickens held the ball in the direction of Cardinals cornerback Denzel Burke.

Pickens was flagged for taunting.

On Saturday, the league announced that Pickens has been fined $17,389.

The penalty added 15 yards to the Cowboys’ effort to carve deeper into what had been a 17-point Cardinals lead. The Cowboys didn’t score again in the game.

For Pickens, it was a reminder that — despite having immense talent — there’s an immaturity that can rear its head an inopportune times. And that will become a factor for any team monitoring his performance in 2025 (which has been very impressive) with an eye toward possibly trying to sign him in free agency, if Pickens and the Cowboys can’t come to agreement on a new deal.

Greg Ellis deserves credit for his candor. He could have said nothing. He decided instead to share his regrets for not keeping in contact with Cowboys defensive end Marshawn Kneeland, who dies this week in an apparent suicide.

In 2024, Ellis — who spent 11 years with the Cowboys as a player — served as the team’s assistant defensive line coach. He lobbied for the team to draft Kneeland in round two. Kneeland reminded Ellis of himself. And Ellis wishes he’d done more to keep in touch with his former pupil.

“For me, I should have known,” Ellis told Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News. “But the moments that I pay attention to him when he would withdraw, he would get quiet, and then I was like, ‘What’s going on?’ But his number one answer: ‘I’m straight coach, I’m good.’ So, yes, to that again, a lot of things are hindsight. I did see it. But I didn’t think it would lead to this. But I did feel compelled to stay in contact with him, and that’s the one thing that I didn’t do well enough in my opinion.”

Ellis’s tenure with the Cowboys ended after the 2024 season. He’s struggling with the fact that he didn’t continue the relationship.

“I feel like, I wish he would have reached out to me,” Ellis said. “But it’s kind of out of sight, out of mind, and that’s where I feel like I needed to have been calling him, and the last time I talked to him by text. Then I just should have been texting him on a consistent basis. Hindsight, I wish I would have been reaching out to him a lot more and maybe that would have helped him to say, ‘Oh yeah, G let me talk to you. Let’s go and get something to eat X, Y and Z.’ It doesn’t have to be about football. I didn’t do it.”

Ellis bears no blame. The Cowboys moved on, and Ellis moved on. His willingness to share his feelings on the matter can have a positive impact on others.

The lesson is clear. Make the time to check in on your family, friends, colleagues. Watch and listen to them. Help them if you can. Urge them to get help elsewhere, if you believe they need it.

We’re all under varying degrees of stress. If anyone has no problems at all, it’s a temporary condition at best. Serious problems also can be temporary. The right message at the right time can prevent someone from resorting to a permanent and irreversible solution.

The NFL family suffered a major loss on Thursday with the apparent suicide of Cowboys defensive end Marshawn Kneeland. He was only 24.

The situation highlights the importance of always keeping tabs on the people whose lives we touch on a regular basis. Everyone has an orbit of family, colleagues, friends, acquaintances. People we see at the store, the pharmacy, church. Whatever. Wherever.

We’re in this life together. We need to look out for each other.

It’s not easy. We have our own problems. Everyone is almost always going through something. Call your people. Text them. Check on them. Even if it’s just to say hello.

Employers have an obligation, too. Their employees are at any given time under stress that can come from a wide variety of places. The more inherently stressful the job, the more important it is to make sure everyone is OK.

Being an NFL player is inherently stressful. The team is constantly evaluating whether the player is good enough, whether he can be replaced by someone younger, cheaper, more talented. One injury, happening in a flash, can derail an entire career.

As one source observed on Thursday, the Kneeland tragedy shows how critical it is for every team to have a full-time mental health clinician on staff.

“You’d be surprised how many don’t,” the source said.

Beyond having someone who has been hired to keep tabs on the mental health of all players, coaches, and other personnel, our shared obligation to look out for each other applies. Patriots coach Mike Vrabel addressed this subject in a Friday press conference.

“That’s something that I think we have always been intentional with, is trying to find and put as many points of contact around our players, our coaches, and our employees that we possibly can, that they feel comfortable sharing things and communicating,” Vrabel said.

“I think that that’s what you would do when you have a family and you spend a lot of time with each other. You kind of know what people — what they’re like on a normal basis, on a daily basis, what their mannerisms are. They’re next to each other in the locker room, and so I think that that just happens and occurs naturally. I’m always reminded of — and I think it might have been [Nelson] Agholor, but I don’t want to misquote it — but it was a Patriot player, somebody had a concussion, he noticed that he wasn’t right on the field, grabbed him and stopped and said, ‘Hey.’”

Here’s the video. Patriots receiver Davante Parker hit his head on the turf in Arizona during a game in December 2022. Parker was obviously not right. He wasn’t removed from the game. Before the next snap, Agholor was adamant that Parker needed to be checked.

“I showed that to the team in Tennessee, like, ‘Hey, this is a teammate. We’re going to miss things, but when you see something that’s not right or when a guy’s not right,’” Vrabel said. “And I know that’s completely separate, but I’m just using that — that’s always stood out to my mind of a guy saying, ‘Hey, this guy doesn’t seem right.’ So we always want to do that, and we always want to look out for each other and have each other’s backs.”

Amen to all of that. It’s something we should all take to heart.

Hey, this guy doesn’t seem right.

The only way to know that is to check on people. To see how they’re doing. And to be ready to help them when help is needed.

As Clarence said to George Bailey in a holiday classic that soon will emerge from its annual hibernation, “Every man’s life touches so many other lives.”

We can make a gigantic difference for those whose lives we touch, even if it doesn’t feel very significant at the time.

All we have to do is pay attention.

Cowboys defensive end Marshawn Kneeland died of an apparent suicide.

Via NBCNews.com, Texas police say that Kneeland, 24, suffered an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The Frisco, Texas, Police Department said that, on Wednesday night, Texas Department of Public Safety troopers attempted to stop a car for a traffic violation near Frisco. The driver allegedly refused to pull over, sparking a pursuit.

“After losing visual of the vehicle, troopers located it minutes later, crashed on southbound Dallas Parkway near Warren Parkway,” the FPD statement said.

The driver, identified as Kneeland, fled on foot. His body was found roughly three hours later.

The case and manner of death will be determined by the Collin County Medical Examiner’s Office. Police are investigating the case as a possible suicide.

The Cowboys are currently on a bye. The NFL has made counseling services available to players.

For anyone in crisis, help is immediately available. Call or text 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

Cowboys defensive end Marshawn Kneeland has died. He was 24.

The Cowboys announced Kneeland’s passing on Thursday. “It is with extreme sadness that the Dallas Cowboys share that Marshawn Kneeland tragically passed away this morning,” the team said. “Marshawn was a beloved teammate and member of our organization. Our thoughts and prayers regarding Marshawn are with his girlfriend Catalina and his family.”

The news was separately confirmed by Kneeland’s agent, Jonathan Perzley.

Kneeland was the fifty-sixth overall pick in the 2024 draft. A Michigan native, Kneeland played college football at Western Michigan from 2019 through 2023. He appeared in 11 games as a rookie and seven in 2025, with three starts.

We extend our condolences to Kneeland’s family, friends, teammates, and coaches.

The first major data point is in regarding the absence of ESPN and ABC from YouTube TV.

Monday night’s game between the Cardinals and the Cowboys drew an average audience of 16.2 million viewers across ESPN, ABC, ESPN2, ESPN Deportes, and NFL+.

The release calls it ESPN’s “second-highest Week 9 audience since 2011.” In most years since 2011, however, the game was not also televised by ABC.

The impact of the YouTube TV blackout isn’t clear. Many who would have quickly and easily watched through YouTube TV may have found a workaround through rabbit ears, NFL+, or some other streaming app. And even though the numbers still count, those who had to spend time, effort, and/or money on a different way to watch the game surely weren’t happy with having to scramble.

The release makes no mention of the comparison to last year’s Week 9 audience. And for good reason. Even without the Nielsen Big Data + Panel bump, Bucs-Chiefs in Week 9 2024 averaged 20.6 million. That makes this year’s Week 9 audience a 21.4-percent reduction from Week 9 a year ago.

And then there’s the Cowboys factor. They always provide a rating boost. Last year, their Week 14 appearance on Monday night against the Bengals averaged 18.7 million viewers — even though Dallas entered that game with a 5-7 record and the Bengals were 4-8.

It would be interesting to see the full breakdown between ABC and the various cable channels. That would shed light on the number of people who relied on the free, over-the-air signal versus some form of pay-based TV.

Regardless, the number surely would have been higher if the game has been available quickly and easily to YouTube TV customers. Whether that prompts a concerted effort to end the impasse remains to be seen.

And the clock keeps ticking. In five days, the Packers host the Eagles on Monday Night Football.