NFL Offering Counseling To Players Who Recently Died By Suicide

The NFL has set its sights on expanding mental health care by today announcing a new program that offers counseling to players who have recently died by suicide.

Beginning as soon as the 2028 season, the league will invest up to $100,000 in a more holistic behavioral health program to help NFL players face the unique challenges that come with passing away.

“Players who die by suicide regularly lack access to crisis support,” said Tracey McDaniel, an NFL Sports Psychologist who spearheaded the initiative to add extra padding in the helmets of players who have already been concussed. “Too often, there aren’t enough signs that a player died by suicide, so if we invest more resources now, we can reach at-risk deceased players sooner, maybe as soon as hours after they formally die.”

Following the report of a foul smell emitting from a player’s residence, a team of therapists will arrive to work with former humans on essential post-life skills like setting goals, performance anxiety, and rigor mortis management.

“Sometimes the most important thing you can do for a person who is entering the decomposition stage of life is to just listen to what their body tells you,” McDaniel said. “It’s tough enough to be a professional football player, but to do the job while dead is just unfathomable.”

Upon the implementation of this program, the NFL will seek to enhance its domestic violence postvention efforts.