{"id":498768,"date":"2026-02-23T11:49:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T11:49:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/498768\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T11:49:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T11:49:09","slug":"ex-nfl-player-critical-of-league-teams-on-mental-health-dont-tell-me-they-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/498768\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-NFL player critical of league, teams on mental health: &#8216;Don&#8217;t tell me they care&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This article discusses suicide and suicidal ideation. If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/teams\/minnesota-vikings\/347\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Minnesota Vikings;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Minnesota Vikings<\/a>\u00a0wide receiver\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/players\/rondale-moore\/1130270\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Rondale Moore;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Rondale Moore<\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/articles\/minnesota-vikings-wide-receiver-rondale-021243754.html\" data-ylk=\"slk:died yesterday;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;outcm:mb_qualified_link;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;\" class=\"link  yahoo-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">died yesterday<\/a> at 25 years old. The NFL world continues to react to his death as the investigation continues in Floyd County, Indiana.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Current and former NFL players have paid tribute to the former Purdue Boilermakers and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/sports\/nfl\/arizona-cardinals\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Arizona Cardinals;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Arizona Cardinals<\/a> wideout. Maxx Crosby, Hollywood Brown, J.J. Watt and Raheem Mostert were among the many to <a href=\"https:\/\/touchdownwire.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/nfl\/touchdown\/2026\/02\/22\/nfl-players-pay-tribute-to-rondale-moore-after-his-tragic-passing\/88807886007\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:post to social media in Moore&#039;s honor;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">post to social media in Moore&#8217;s honor<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>One former player shared his insight criticizing the league for its handling of mental health issues in players.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Imma keep it a stack.. I don\u2019t care, I\u2019m retired I\u2019ll say what I want,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/BreidenFehoko\/status\/2025458323785384334\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:former defensive lineman Breiden Fehoko wrote on X;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">former defensive lineman Breiden Fehoko wrote on X<\/a>. &#8220;These NFL teams come out here and post these mental health awareness posts talking about they care about players &#8216;don\u2019t be afraid to reach out&#8217; etc. All they care about is what you bring to the table when it\u2019s game day. Most players don\u2019t wanna get help inside the building of an NFL organization because they know you\u2019ll get looked at differently. You go to a staff member tell em you struggling watch how different they start treating and looking at you. I seen it first hand.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Fehoko went undrafted in 2020 out of LSU but played for five years in the NFL. He spent the 2020 through 2022 seasons with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/sports\/nfl\/los-angeles-chargers\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Los Angeles Chargers;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Los Angeles Chargers<\/a> before a two-year stint with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/sports\/nfl\/pittsburgh-steelers\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Pittsburgh Steelers;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I\u2019ll start believing they care about player health when the Owner, GM, &amp; head coach treat everyone on that roster the same from the franchise QB to the janitor,&#8221; he wrote. &#8220;Until then don\u2019t tell me they care cause they posted some hotline number when (expletive) like this happens.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Fehoko finished his statement by encouraging players to reach out to him if they&#8217;re struggling.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I\u2019m here for any of my brothers that just wanna talk and shoot the (expletive). I love y\u2019all. I care about y\u2019all. I\u2019m here for y\u2019all.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Fehoko similarly spoke out after the death of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/sports\/nfl\/dallas-cowboys\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Dallas Cowboys;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Dallas Cowboys<\/a> defensive lineman Marshawn Kneeland.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Kneeland, 24, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/nfl\/cowboys\/2025\/11\/17\/marshawn-kneeland-cause-of-death-cowboys-raiders-mnf\/87306956007\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:died by suicide;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">died by suicide<\/a> in Frisco, Texas last November.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Sometimes as a man especially in the football world we&#8217;re afraid of being judged or looked at weak,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/BreidenFehoko\/status\/1986494278571380942\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Fehoko wrote in response on X;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Fehoko wrote in response on X<\/a>. &#8220;Make it mandatory to have a sit down with guys cause most of em won&#8217;t take the initiative.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Moore&#8217;s cause of death remains under investigation at time of publishing.<\/p>\n<p>This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/nfl\/2026\/02\/22\/rondale-moore-reaction-nfl-breiden-fehoko-critical\/88813715007\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Former NFL player critical of teams, league after Rondale Moore death;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Former NFL player critical of teams, league after Rondale Moore death<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This article discusses suicide and suicidal ideation. If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":498769,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[1258,64,63,250946,1234,137,85944,14141,3052,19351,16818,514,22828,7542,515,1239,593,1241,7820,250947,52006],"class_list":{"0":"post-498768","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-arizona-cardinals","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-breiden-fehoko","12":"tag-dallas-cowboys","13":"tag-health","14":"tag-hollywood-brown","15":"tag-j-j-watt","16":"tag-los-angeles-chargers","17":"tag-marshawn-kneeland","18":"tag-maxx-crosby","19":"tag-mental-health","20":"tag-mental-health-awareness","21":"tag-mental-health-issues","22":"tag-mentalhealth","23":"tag-minnesota-vikings","24":"tag-nfl","25":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","26":"tag-players","27":"tag-raheem-mostert","28":"tag-rondale-moore"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=498768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498768\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/498769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=498768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=498768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=498768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}