by police in Mansfield, Texas, in 2014 and taken in for a mental health evaluation. In 2019, he was arrested on two misdemeanor counts of criminal mischief.
While Barber’s cause of death is unknown those close to him had been concerned over his mental health for over a year.
Startling Statistics about Mental Health in the NFL
As more research uncovers the lingering effects of concussions and former NFL players open up about the struggles they face after their careers, the topic of depression and suicide among former players continues to be broached in meaningful, important ways.
Recently, several former players talked with Jim Trotter of ESPN.com about their post-playing-career battles with depression. The number of retired NFL players who face this problem might surprise some folks.
“It’d be easier to start with which ones do not have depression,” former Green Bay Packers offensive lineman Aaron Taylor told Trotter. “Observationally, it’s a significant percentage. It varies by degree, obviously, but everyone struggles.”
Eddie “Boo” Williams, a former tight end for the New Orleans Saints, told a story about nearly taking his own life in which he lay across railroad tracks awaiting a train before a homeless couple helped him up:
What was going through my mind was, you know, taking myself out, ending my life. I felt like I was a big disappointment to people. I felt like I was less than a man because of the things I was doing and how I couldn’t really provide for my family like I used to. It was tough feeling like you’re 3-foot-nothing when you’re 6’5′. “I felt like I didn’t have anybody to turn to [who could] understand the things I was going through. I was at the point that I just wanted to end it all.”
According to Bleacher Report, even for athletes with secure financial futures, the loss of identity that often accompanies the conclusion of an athletic career can be difficult to handle. When they dedicate much of their lives to a sport, losing that sport as an essential daily routine is, in many ways, like watching a part of themselves die.
“I had saved my money. I had done well. I had businesses that I had already started,” former star running back Eddie George told Trotter. “But there was that void, a huge void, of: ‘Man, what am I going to do tomorrow morning when I wake up?’ It was pretty much, ‘Who am I? I’m no longer an athlete.'”
Dwight Hollier, a former linebacker for the Miami Dolphins and the Indianapolis Colts, endured a similar struggle to George:
“I didn’t know what to do. I sulked and