‘We still have a long way to go’: Thomas spearheading NFL’s mental health push

WWhen the Buffalo Bills kicked a late field goal against the New York Jets last Monday night to win the battle for New York State, the Jets fell to 2-4 and dealt a huge blow to their hopes of winning the AFC East title toe, star linebacker Solomon Thomas kept it in perspective. Yes, it was a setback, but it wasn’t a biggie.

He may be a hugely successful sports star and multi-millionaire, but Thomas is as familiar with setbacks as anyone. Born seven weeks premature and weighing just four pounds (he has since gained nearly 300), the Texas college kid played just two Pac-12 seasons at Stanford and developed into one of the nation’s top linebackers. He left the final year of his communications degree to enter the NFL Draft in 2017, and was drafted third overall by the San Francsico 49ers. He was that good. He missed the 2020 season with an ACL injury and was released by the 49ers, but losing a year of your career was nothing when you lost a sister.

With a nation of sports fans focused on his impact, Thomas made his NFL debut a few days after his 22nd birthday. He was paid around $7 million a year (about £100,000 a week) but was desperately unhappy due to anxiety and depression. Days after his rookie pro season ended, his big sister Ella committed suicide at the age of 24. That would have ended the careers of many young men. It almost cost Thomas his life, but instead opened a new world to him.

“I was very fortunate to have good support from the Niners,” Solomon told me during World Mental Health Week. “They helped me and my family at the time and got me into therapy, which really saved my life. That was huge. I am very grateful for their support in getting me out of the dark place I was in and seeing the light again. From that point on, I learned more and more about the practice and became an advocate for mental health.”

Together with his parents Martha and Chris, Thomas launched The Defensive Line in 2021, a mental health charity that works with schools, clubs and companies across the United States. Three years later it won a Heisman Humanitarian Award.

“We are an educational service that teaches mentors how to run a business, a classroom and a locker room in a healthy way,” Thomas explains. “When your loved ones, your colleagues, teammates, students get to a point, you know how to deal with it, how to create a safe mental health environment where they can talk about it freely, speak the right language and know the resources in that area so that you can get professional help. We teach each mentor how to create a crisis action plan in case that situation arises.”

In the seven years since the low point, Thomas has seen support for player mental health evolve significantly in the NFL, as it has in other sports. Thomas realizes that he would probably get more support now than when he needed it most.

“I would have gotten through it faster if there had been a better environment around it, and I wouldn’t have gotten to a point where my back was against the wall when I went to therapy.

“It’s gotten a lot better. The NFL had a mental health initiative a few years ago that required a personal professional physician to be present a few times a week, giving us more access to mental health care outside of the building for our families and ourselves, and there more emphasis was placed on it. The environment is now more focused on accepting help and getting help faster.”

The day before I met Thomas I was in Lancashire learning about player welfare programs offered in Super League by Rugby League Cares. A team of former players and coaches who have become qualified practitioners work alongside club welfare managers, shifting the focus from crisis management to preventive programmes. With small resources compared to the ocean of the NFL, British rugby league is doing groundbreaking work, when it should be the other way around.

“We still have a long way to go,” Thomas admits. “Guys are learning how to take care of themselves in a high-pressure environment, in an environment that you just leave when you’re done with the game; how to practice those things and monitor your mental health, find a therapist or psychiatrist; If you need medication, how do you get it and what is correct, your insurance. All these things need to be worked on.”

Positive life experiences are the most important ingredients. Coming to London this month with the Jets was another experience to enjoy. “Playing abroad is special,” said Thomas. “Many of the boys had never left the country before, so I was very happy for them. It’s very important for them to see a new place and understand that there is so much more than America, one way of doing things, one culture.”

Tomas should know. A solid 2021 with the Las Vegas Raiders brought a move to the East Coast for a player who spent five years as a child in Mosman, New South Wales – Manly Sea Eagles territory – thanks to his father’s work at Procter & Gamble. In a reverse move from the American All Stars in No Helmets Required, who went from playing football at Stanford to rugby league in Sydney, Thomas went from Sydney to Stanford to play football.

“We used to go to the beach there all the time – it was really cool,” says Thomas. “It was great, special. My family has been back for a while, but it’s been a while. We enjoyed our time there, the people and their beautiful country. I definitely miss it and want to go back, it has a warm place in my heart.”

Such positivity is central to the Rugby League Cares approach. In their bid to support not only those who are not feeling well, but also those who are well, they use a wellbeing maturity model where players self-assess where they are, while academy players complete a youth wellbeing heatmap in which they assess their own physical, emotional and mental health before one-on-one meetings with wellbeing managers. The focus is on preventing poor mental health and encouraging the positive elements in players’ lives. The defensive line is following a similar path.

“We implement safe mental health practices in any work setting – meeting room, locker room, anywhere – to ensure everyone feels they can be themselves, empower each other, know how to find the right how to ask questions, how to listen – and know where to go when they need help,” says Thomas.

As a prime example of financial wealth not equaling emotional health, a key element of Thomas’ mission is encouraging teammates to plan for life after football.

“It’s just to get them to understand that football isn’t forever – the NFL stands for Not For Long; to build identity outside the game. You are more than a football player: you are a human being, a father, brother, son, husband, whatever it is. You have so much more to offer the world than just football, so prepare for that, start exploring yourself and understanding what you like.

“That’s what therapy is also good for: you learn what you like, work on your weaknesses, strengths, what stimulates you. Players need to ask themselves ‘what interests me outside the game, what gives me a drive, what motivates me and gives me that same feeling outside of it?’ Finding that is huge and building on that while you’re still in the league so when it’s gone you still have a sense of what you are when it leaves you.

At 29 years old and with seven seasons under his belt, Thomas knows he could already be reaching the fall of his career. What’s his next step?

“I don’t know what’s next for me. I am interested in many things. I love mental health and will forever speak the truth about it and encourage others – that will never go away. But I’m not sure if this is my forever calling. I’ll see what motivates me. I’m excited about my career next, whatever that may be.”

This month, Martha and Chris shared a stage with President Biden, Prince Harry and Matt Damon as they received praise for The Defensive Line at the Clinton Global Initiative. “I am so proud of all the work they do and how much they have given,” says their son. “That was super cool.”

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