Former NFL offensive lineman TJ Lang said no one was discussing mental health 15 years ago early in his career.
“When you’re a big, big athlete, there’s a part of you that takes pride in keeping things to yourself and looking like you’re put together,” said Lang, who played in Green Bay for eight seasons and retired after the 2018 season after two-year stint with the Detroit Lions. “The world is different now. I think it’s good that the NFL and the teams are trying to help and make sure their players are in the right space.
“There is supreme pressure in this sport. Sometimes people fail and sometimes people need help. The more teams encourage and normalize it, the better.”
The NFL and the NFL Players Association agreed in 2019 to make it a requirement to have a licensed behavioral health professional on every team’s staff in an effort to increase mental health resources.
“It was pivotal in terms of setting a standard,” said Amber Cargill, the NFLPA’s director of wellness.
The Kansas City Chiefs, who will face the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl on Feb. 11, are one of the few teams in the league with a full-time professional dedicated to mental health.
The Niners have a licensed behavioral health clinician at their practice facilities for 20 to 30 hours a week, far more than the eight to 12 hours called for in the collective bargaining agreement.
The Ravens, whom the Chiefs beat in the AFC title game, hired someone before it was a liability, adding team clinical specialist Tricia Bent-Goodley to their staff in 2015.
“I believe we have a culture that supports my work from the very beginning and that starts at the top,” she said.
The league and union may disagree on many things, but they appear to be on the same page in making mental health a priority and making sure services are readily available.
There has been an ever-increasing number of players taking advantage of the opportunity to speak with mental health professionals since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the league and union said.
“Since the pandemic, we’ve seen an increase in willingness to have conversations about getting help and normalizing challenges like anxiety and depression,” Nyaka NiiLampti, the NFL’s vice president of clinical and wellness services, said in a recent phone interview. “There’s also a growing realization that you can’t have optimal physical performance if you don’t optimize your mental performance.”
Lions quarterback Hendon Hooker tried to keep his mind straight during his rookie season last year as he worked his way back from a knee injury that ended his college career at Tennessee and dealt with the deaths of loved ones. Hooker said he spoke with Michelle Garvin, a clinical psychologist who works with the Lions along with the co-directors of player engagement to develop strategies such as learning how to sleep better.
Garvin was hired by Lions general manager Brad Holmes three years ago and is part of a wellness team that includes Sean Pugh and Jessica Gray, whose offices are just steps from the players’ locker room.
Linebacker Alex Anzalone had a problem of his own that he wanted to talk to someone about to try to get over the trauma of the sound of his son’s broken leg as they went down a rink together.
“When I came to work a few days later, I said, ‘Hey, Dr. Garvin. I need to talk to you,’” Anzalone recalled. “I couldn’t get the sound of his cracked leg out of my head.
“We see her all the time. She has open hours and Brad does a good job of emphasizing that we should see her all year round.”
Lions coach Dan Campbell said Garvin has become an “incredible” part of the team, cultivating relationships with players over time to build trust.
“I think every year our players use it more and I really think it helps in every way,” Campbell said. “You’re dealing with time management. You are dealing with family issues. You deal with troubling issues.
“And she’s always scratching her head over there with the coaches, too,” Campbell added. “She’ll come once a week, once every two weeks, and she wants to make sure we’re smart and rested.”
Buffalo Bills rusher Von Miller put it simply.
“There’s a stigma, but hell, it’s a help,” he said. “If you have a strained tendon, you go to the doctor. If you have something mental, you go to a doctor.
“Sometimes you can’t control what happens physically. It’s like the body will do what the body will do. But if you’re solid mentally, all the other things work.”
