The NFL was hit with tragic news last week after former New England Patriots offensive lineman Jordan Devey’s family revealed that he died by suicide. The news came just weeks after Boston University’s CTE Center posthumously diagnosed ex-Dallas Cowboys defensive end Marshawn Kneeland with Stage 1 chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Kneeland also died by suicide in November 2025.
Breiden Fehoko Blasts NFL Teams for Mental Health Concerns
In a lengthy post on X on Sunday, former Pittsburgh Steelers defensive tackle Breiden Fehoko called out teams for their handling of their players’ mental health issues and further mocked the guidelines in place to handle confidentiality.
“How many more NFL player suicides will it take for the NFL to actually do something?” Fehoko wrote. “Players don’t even feel comfortable getting help within their own organizations. They claim ‘your information won’t be shared’ that’s a lie. As soon as you go to the team clinician, they’re telling the whole front office ‘you’re crazy.’ All these NFLPA help hotlines don’t help (expletive). It’s just a person on the other end of the phone collecting a check.”
He added, “I’ll keep speaking out because mental health issues SUCK, and if you’ve been in this business you know how dark and lonely it gets. These coaches don’t care, these GMs don’t care, and these owners definitely don’t GAF.”
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In an interview with Fox 13 in Salt Lake City, Jordan Devey’s mother, Leslie, revealed that the former Patriots player’s family believes that he suffered from CTE because of the manner of his death.
On the other hand, Kneeland’s diagnosis was achieved after his family donated his brain for research after his death last year. According to a statement released by Boston University’s CTE Center director, Dr. Ann McKee, the disease is rampant in athletes who die before the age of 30.
“Unfortunately, I was not surprised to find CTE in the brain of Mr Kneeland, because we have found this progressive brain disease in nearly half of the athletes we’ve studied who have died before the age of 30,” McKee said .
“Thanks to the generosity of our brain donor families, we now better understand the earliest stages of CTE, and it is bringing us closer than ever to diagnosing it during life. My team and I are fully dedicated to finding effective treatments and a cure for CTE.”
Former Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Rondale Moore also died by suicide in February 2026, further raising concerns about the mental health of NFL players. CTE, which has four stages, has become an almost taboo word in the league as awareness has increased over the years.
The NFLNew England PatriotsJordan Devey’sBoston University’s CTE CenterDallas CowboysMarshawn KneelandStageMarPhoenixUSADetailedNFL
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