11:17pm: The Texas Department of Public safety classified Kneeland’s death as suicide, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s Nick Harris. At 10:33pm Wednesday night, police attempted to stop a vehicle for a traffic violation. The driver of the vehicle refused to stop, leading to a police pursuit. Police losing sight of the vehicle ended the pursuit. Initial reports then stated Kneeland fled the scene on foot, according to a report from the Frisco (Texas) Police Department (via ESPN’s Adam Schefter).
According to the police report, police found the vehicle abandoned after a crash on the Dallas Parkway. The driver of the vehicle, Kneeland, was found after authorities searched the area. After the discovery, police ruled Kneeland died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. According to the Frisco Police report, authorities discovered Kneeland expressed “suicidal ideations.” The Plano (Texas) Police Department received a call at approximately 11:40pm regarding a welfare concern “at an address they were told belonged to Kneeland.” The call went unanswered with a police pursuit underway (via NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero). He was found at 1:31am.
8:46am: The Cowboys have made a shocking announcement. Marshawn Kneeland, a defensive end the team drafted in last year’s second round, passed away. He was 24.
“It is with extreme sadness that the Dallas Cowboys share that Marshawn Kneeland tragically passed away this morning,” the Cowboys said in a statement (via NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo). “Marshawn was a beloved teammate and member of our organization. Our thoughts and prayers regarding Marshawn are with his girlfriend Catalina and his family.”
Arriving as the No. 56 overall pick out of Western Michigan last year, Kneeland made four NFL starts. His tragic death comes less than three days after he scored his first NFL touchdown. Kneeland returned a blocked punt for a score against the Cardinals on Monday night in Dallas. After Sam Williams notched the second-quarter block, Kneeland pounced on the recovery for a score. It marked Kneeland’s first touchdown in the college or professional ranks.
A fast-rising prospect from the MAC program, Kneeland memorably set up 16 pre-draft visits last year. The traits he showed during a five-year college career intrigued plenty of teams, as the pass rusher came to the NFL with less-than-stellar college numbers. Kneeland did not have a five-sack college season, but he recorded 25 tackles for loss over his final three. A Cowboys team that at the time was looking for Micah Parsons complementary rush talent swooped in, adding the rookie on Day 2.
Kneeland missed a chunk of his rookie season due to a partially torn lateral meniscus sustained in early October of last year, but he made it back before season’s end. The Cowboys saved an IR activation for the rookie, who returned for the team’s Thanksgiving game. Kneeland played in 11 games last season, making one start for a team that lost DeMarcus Lawrence to injury early in the season. Kneeland made three starts this season, as the Cowboys traded Parsons months after letting Lawrence walk in free agency.
Kneeland did not record a sack as a rookie but notched one this season, dropping Jalen Hurts in the Cowboys’ opener. The part-time starter, who was viewed as part of the Cowboys’ solution post-Parsons, tallied three tackles for loss in his second season.
Wow, so tragic…and at such a young age too.
RIP.
RIP so young and filled with potential.
Prayers up for all Cowboys fans everywhere.
Oh no. That’s awful.
Condolences to his family
RIP 🙏
Not good
Unbelievable. Can’t imagine what his Mom and Dad are going through. Prayers.
He unfortunately lost his mother a couple years ago
That’s tragic! RIP and condolences. Anybody know what happened?
I’m sure it’ll come out eventually
Sounds like he had some issues over his moms passing away. Suicide is always a bad way to deal with your problems so I wished he had found someone to help him through. RIP and God Bless!
Read up on the story. So tragic. Smh
Just sad too young and with no how at that age makes it scary.
RIP.
Unbelievable… I just saw him score that TD on Sunday. very promising young player. Just devastating.
Wow….Condolences to his Friends, Family, and Cowboy Nation.
Oh my goodness so damn young and just getting started. Can’t imagine what his loved ones are going through. RIP to the young man
TMZ is saying it was suicide. So sad
Figure it was the suspected outcome. Rare a 24yr old just passes away, if it was a medical issue they likely would have caught it like they have with other players. They mention vehicle accidents when it happens to. Such a shame he didn’t get all the help to work through the problems bothering him.
My condolences to his family, the Cowboys organization and their fans. Tragic loss. RIP
as an eagle fan I would like to offer condolences to kneelands family and friends as well as all the cowboy fans everywhere. I don’t understand why did he run and why kill yourself? it seems like there might be more come out in the future that possibly explains why he took such drastic measures for just a speeding ticket or maybe a DUI/DWI. Regardless this is a horrendous tragedy.
RIP Marshawn…..
So sad and tragic. A young person with so much life ahead. Peace be with you and those close to you.
Having lost 3 members of my family to suicide my heart breaks for this young man and the loved ones he leaves behind…..I wish someone could have reached him before he made such a tragic choice 😢
He obviously had some personal demons he was fighting. He scores his first TD and the world sees him smiling with his teammates. A few days later he kills himself. I went through this myself in 2019 with my brother. We had just gone fishing and we laughed for hours. Got home at 5pm. He shot himself an hour later. This world just isnt a friendly place to some.
So sorry to hear that 😞 I can relate
Thank you. Sorry you’ve experienced the same.
Thank you. I lost my Dad 3 years ago to suicide and I still feel it 💔
Just shows you that even though the average fan looks at these professional athletes as having it all and wondering how this could happen – they are dealing with challenges the same as us. This young man would seem to have been in a spot most of us would give anything for but we can’t begin to comprehend what he may be hearing on social media, what his family pressure may be (people coming out if the woodwork asking for money), the vultures that attach themselves to young and suddenly well-compensated men, or simply self-inflicted pressures to perform at the highest level under crazy scrutiny. Heck – everything he heard leading up to the deadline was how much Dallas D sucked and how the position he played needed to be upgraded.
He may have been paranoid or delusional, thinking the police would possibly kill him.
Were drugs and alcohol involved?
In Texas that was a distinct possibility.
Some quick facts for you:
There’s an estimated 60 million police contacts with the public per year.
1,000-1,200 people are fatally shot by the police per year.
Your chances of being shot and killed by the police are 1 in 60,000. Or 0.0001%
Do with that information what you will.
There’s literally nothing anyone anywhere can do with that.
What you can do with that is stop assuming police are out there trying to kill people and stop buying into the “black men should be afraid of police” narrative.
“1,000-1,200 people are fatally shot by the police per year”
This seems like a not insignificant number that you’re downplaying by including the nebulous “police contacts with the public”. 1,200 deaths is insane on its own, but when you expand it to include any incidents of injury inflicted by police, it justifies the fear that many people have of police, especially when getting an officer to face any kind of justice is extremely hard.
Over 2 million people are killed/injured in car accidents per year, but you’re not scared of cars.
If you want to anti-police, that’s your choice. Just don’t pretend you’re using facts to support you.
Ignorant comment
The assumption that he would get shot by the police is what’s ignorant.
Have you actually been around police officers? I have and know that some of them would have no problem drawing their weapons. I am WHITE and would still worry about getting shot by them. Besides, if you read the opening of the post you will see that I speculated he MAY HAVE been paranoid or delusional when fleeing … I never assumed he actually was …
Do with that comment, what you will
Hi Brian, my initial reply was to Uncle Mike who said that it was a “distinct possibility”.
However, if you’re around officers in situations where they think they need to draw their firearm, and you think you’d be the one getting shot, you’re probably not an upstanding citizen. Hahahaha
Only an idiot wants no police. I don’t want to defund the police. Never did. I don’t want the old west although it’s heading that way. I just want better police. Better trained police. Nobody can ignore there are guys who just want to carry guns and legally shoot people. Body Cams are weeding them out thankfully. Praise the police who do it right and they have a tough job with little public support. Why Live PD shows are things I watch. There’s nothing better than watching a good policeman doing a great job. I applaud them.
Youre right … there are many good policemen who do a job that doesnt get enough Thanks from the public but sometimes the departments put alot of pressure on them as well. I just ask as a taxpayer, that more officers serve the public trust, rather than be tense all the time but their job can also escalate at any time, which former Bucs RB, Doug Martin went through sadly.
Haha … you might be right.
His girlfriend called the police and the Cowboys for a welfare check because he was sending “goodbye” messages. This was before the police tried to pull him over.
As someone who knows that kind of struggle all too well my heart goes out to his family & friends. It takes a LOT of pain to reach the point of that becoming an option for relief from it. A great therapist is worth their weight in gold to navigate the trials & tribulations of life which can lead to such thoughts becoming reality.
I really mean this but we also need less sports shows that just mercilessly rip on players and teams. I know ESPN didnt specifically talk about Kneeland but they hammer the Cowboys and their defense daily and in a way that isnt productive or instructive.
Hard to know all the factors at play here but these guys are people too.
Let’s be real. People rarely kill themselves over criticism of the job they’re doing. I’d say 95% of the time it’s over a personal loss – a relationship gone bad, the death of a loved one, etc. In this case, his mother had just passed away. He probably wasn’t thinking straight. If some of your customers complain that you and your co-workers are doing a crappy job, are you really going to put a gun to your head? I didn’t think so.
Compassion just oozes out of you doesn’t it?
Funny how when a professional athlete dies tragically everyone expresses their remorse and feels compelled to issue trite statements about how their thoughts and prayers go out to the family, but when an ordinary person dies no one cares. Fact is, neither you nor I knew Marshawn or had any personal attachment to him, but if it makes you feel better, I feel sorry for your loss.
Actually, anytime I hear of anyone dying, I wish their friends and family my prayers and thoughts. When I pass a car wreck, I give a prayer. I think most people do. It’s just not news.
Heartbreaking
Maybe lets change the headline from passes away to police chase then suicide