Mac Engel: Cowboys' Marshawn Kneeland 'made it' but now joins the group of rising suicides

Mac Engel, Fort Worth Star-Telegram on Nov 6, 2025

Published in Football

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FORT WORTH, Texas — As a second-round draft pick of an NFL team, Marshawn Kneeland was the rarest of statistics.

According to a study by Ohio State University, Kneeland was among the fewer than 1% of high school football players who played in the NFL. He made it.

Wednesday evening, the second-year defensive end for the Dallas Cowboys became one of the worst statistics when he died by suicide. He was 24.

According to the Suicide Prevention Resource Center, there has been a rise in suicides of Americans ages 15-34. In the most recent study of suicide statistics by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, (CDC), suicide is the 11th leading cause of death in the U.S. Some 50,000 Americans took their own lives in 2023.

The same statistical analysis said, “Men died by suicide 3.8 times more than women,” and, “firearms accounted for 55.36% of all suicide deaths.”

Kneeland’s family and loved ones will never know exactly why he committed what is often labeled the most selfish act possible. Even if you believe that is the case, this is a young man who was in a lot of pain, and struggling.

One unprovable theory as to the rise in suicides among men: We don’t talk about what’s really going on in our heads. Our hearts. Our stomachs. Our bodies.

Despite the increased awareness of mental health, as a group men remain mostly atrocious at “getting it out.” Because to do so remains mostly a violation of a code that says for a man to reveal much of anything is to be weak, or, worse, effeminate.

“Our generation of kids — my kids — they all just say, ‘Yeah, I’m fine. I’m straight.’ You really gotta unearth it,” Nebraska coach Matt Rhule said during his news conference Thursday. “(Kneeland) scored a TD just a couple days ago, and to the outside world you’d think he’s at the pinnacle.

“But he was dealing with something — I don’t know what it was. But I pray for him, him and his family.”

We are all human beings. We are all equally vulnerable to feeling the human experience.

Sadness. Joy. Disappointment. Euphoria. Confusion. Anger. Heartbreak. These are human emotions. Dealing with them can be overwhelming.

Dealing with it is one thing; not talking about it can be mentally — and physically — destructive.

From a bird’s-eye view, Kneeland seems like the last guy who would kill himself. He was an NFL player. A starting defensive end for the Dallas Cowboys who was entering the prime years of his career, and some of the most enjoyable parts of what hopefully would be a long, productive life.

Money. Fame. Fun. Behind-the-rope-service. Front-of-the-line access. The prettiest women. The life to which young high school football players aspire.

He scored his first NFL touchdown Monday night at AT&T Stadium when he recovered a blocked punt in the end zone.

Watch the highlight. After teammate Sam Williams blocked the punt, there was Kneeland, arms pumping up and down, chasing the football before he fell on it in the end zone. He was on the ground, protecting the ball like a baby, to score the Cowboys’ first points of the night.

Most people who reach the NFL, especially defensive players, never experience the joy that comes with scoring a touchdown. He was one of the few who did.

For most people, that will be the final image they have of a young man they did not know beyond the fact that he played for the Cowboys.

Three days later, he’s gone. Left in his absence are family and loved ones who must deal with life-altering emotions. This event will be a line of demarcation in their lives.

The details of Kneeland’s last days add a layer of intrigue that will generate interest among those who only know him as a member of the Cowboys, but haunt those who loved him. A police chase. A search. Messages to loved ones that he would “end it all.” A suicide by gun in a Porta Potty.

It reads worse than it sounds, and it sounds awful.

As with any suicide, Marshawn Kneeland should be here.

Instead, a man who became the rarest of statistics by reaching the NFL, and scoring a touchdown in an NFL game, is now tragically part of the worst statistic.

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If you are experiencing a mental health crisis, please call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in the United States at 988 24 hours a day, seven days a week, or visit the website at 988lifeline.org.