Hanging up the jersey: The future of NFL players’ mental health after retirement

Summary: Athletes of today’s age are being more open about mental health more than ever. NFL Vice President of Operations, Troy Vincent, helps players find what’s important for them after their career is over such as finding new job outlets to pursue, but what happens to a player’s mental health when they hang up the jersey?

Leagues like the NFL have implemented many different things to ensure athletes have a new destination to go after their careers on the field have ended, but with all those accommodations, where can the athletes go for their mental health once exiting the field?

“I just realized the love and the passion that I had for one athlete’s development, and to life after sport,” NFL Vice President of Operations Troy Vincent told our commentary class.

This passion Vincent has is very strong towards creating lives after football for athletes, but the mental aspect seemed to be lacking. Creating jobs is great, but how can you sustain a new job when you are mourning the life you once lived for so many years? The initiative for life after sports needs to cater to both the new careers and interests paired with creating a healthy and stable mindset.

A part of you dies when you are done with your sport, especially at high levels of competing such as the NFL, and other professional sports. Creating initiatives for athletes exiting the league could be a way to help those transition. Using the word transition even sounds dramatic, but that’s how serious this change is for these athletes.

Athletes will need to learn how to cope with the loss of this identity, learn how to maintain new workout regimens that might not be as high intensity as they used to be, and learn how to find new outlets of dealing with the stressors of life that are off the field.

According to the New York Times, in 2019, the NFL Players Association and the NFL concluded to develop a Comprehensive Mental Health and Wellness committee. This consists of a panel of doctors that both the NFL P.A. and the NFL have agreed upon as well as mandated behavior health team clinician.

NFL players have become more open about getting help and using the resources provided, but sometimes just attempting to use these doctors and psychologists is the problem. Many players, and people in general who need help, tend to refuse treatment.

“Some engage [with NFL Total Wellness App], and some don’t, and I put that on the athlete because I was there,” Vincent said.

Vincent explained the poor player engagement on the NFL’s holistic mental health app and how at the end of the day, some of these guys don’t want to get help let alone think they need to. Reaching out for help is an issue, but more specifically with my point, mandatory programs for professional athletes exiting their sport is a problem.

Making mental health less of a stigma and getting more NFL players to engage on the app is one way to prepare them for taking a seminar or class later in their careers when exiting the league.

Athletes like Kevin Love, Naomi Osaka, Michael Phelps, Simone Biles, and many more have been vocal about speaking up on mental health within competition.

There has not been an NFL player who directly has been a voice for mental health issues, and until that happens, the idea of mental health after competing cannot even be discussed if the idea of it during players’ careers is still taboo.