On Monday night, Dallas Cowboys defensive end Marshawn Kneeland had the game of a lifetime.
He wound up scoring a touchdown on a blocked punt, and he seemed to be living the dream.
That all ended early Thursday morning, however, when Kneeland was found dead.
As a Dallas Cowboys fan, I was sure this was going to be a long and horrible season well before it even got started. Then the injury bug hit the team, and it decimated an already struggling defensive unit.
Monday night, the Cowboys played the Arizona Cardinals at home in a game they should have won, but they wound up being dominated on both sides of the ball by a struggling Arizona team.
Still, there was a ray of hope after a blocked punt was scooped up in the end zone by Kneeland, giving him his first career touchdown.
It was a bright spot on a team that is looking for someone to step up defensively to match the scoring power of the offense. Sadly, that star of the future will not be Kneeland.
The sports world was saddened and stunned when the Dallas Cowboys announced the young player's death.
The organization posted, “It is with extreme sadness that the Dallas Cowboys share that Marshawn Kneeland tragically passed away this morning."
The statement added, “Marshawn was a beloved teammate and member of our organization. Our thoughts and prayers regarding Marshawn are with his girlfriend Catalina and his family.”
At only 24 years old, speculation started to run wild. Speaking with my own group of Cowboy fan friends, I stated it was likely suicide or a drug OD, as there seemed to be very few other likely causes at his age, not to mention the fact that there were no major stories in the local news about an accident causing loss of life.
Sadly, I was correct, as reports broke just a few hours ago that Kneeland had been involved in a police chase late Wednesday night. Officers lost contact with the car and broke off the pursuit.
However, after doing a welfare check at his home, police found his car abandoned and then announced that he had been killed by an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Police also stated, “During the course of the search (for Kneeland), officers received information that Kneeland had expressed suicidal ideations. Kneeland was later located at 1:31 a.m.”
TMZ later reported, “TMZ Sports has obtained police dispatch audio connected to Marshawn Kneeland’s death … which reveals the Dallas Cowboys player told his family goodbye in an apparent mental health episode. The clip is from late Wednesday night -- operators in Texas are heard relaying information from Kneeland’s girlfriend, who stated she received a concerning message from the 24-year-old and was trying to contact the defensive end’s agent.”
This is something that I will never understand. You literally have the world in the palm of your hand, yet somehow, it is not enough to make and keep you happy. I am sure there is far more to this story than we know at this point. I just cannot imagine what would make this young man go from such a high on Monday night to such a low only two days later, one that led to him taking his own life.
