Tag: the players tribune

Calvin Ridley talks anxiety, depression, ‘stupid mistake’ in letter

Calvin Ridley opened up about his last two years in a powerful letter.

When Calvin Ridley makes his Jacksonville Jaguars debut in the fall, it’ll be his first time on an NFL field in nearly two years.

Before Ridley was suspended by the league indefinitely for gambling on sports, the former Atlanta Falcons wide receiver was on the non-football injury list while dealing with his mental health. Details of Ridley’s struggles have been vague, but the receiver opened up Wednesday in an open letter published on The Players’ Tribune.

“I would come into the facility and I just wasn’t myself,” Ridley wrote, in part. “I mean, for three years, all those guys in that locker room know how I’m coming. I’m walking in there to compete like hell. I’m trying to take people’s souls, every day. Ask Julio. Ask anybody. But all I wanted was to be at home with my wife and daughter. We were supposed to go play in London, and I just couldn’t leave them. That’s when I finally broke down and told the team that I needed help.”

Among the contributing factors to Ridley’s growing anxieties during the 2021 season was a broken foot that he says he played through during the 2020 season, and a home invasion he says occurred during the Falcons’ Week 1 opener in 2021.

Ridley later explained his decision to bet on NFL games, which earned him a year-long suspension that was lifted earlier this week.

I just f***ed up. Period. In a dark moment, I made a stupid mistake. I wasn’t trying to cheat the game. That’s the thing I want to make clear. At the time, I had been completely away from the team for about a month. I was still just so depressed and angry, and the days were so long. I was looking for anything to take my mind off of things and make the day go by faster. One day, I saw a TV commercial for a betting app, and for whatever reason, I downloaded it on my phone. I deposited like $1,500 total, literally just for something to do. I was going to bet like $200 on some NBA games that night, but then I just added a bunch more games to a parlay. I put the Falcons in on it. I was just doing it to root on my boys, basically. I didn’t have any inside information. I wasn’t even talking to anybody on the team at the time. I was totally off the grid.

Whenever people ask, “What were you thinking?” The only answer I can give is, “I wasn’t.”

Near the end of his letter, Ridley thanked the Jaguars for their faith in him as a person and he made some big promises.

Right now, I feel stronger than I’ve ever felt —  mentally and physically. On the field, I’m flying. Believe me, I’m flying. That GPS band don’t lie. On my daughter’s name, if I’m healthy? With Trevor Lawrence? I’m giving Jacksonville 1,400 yards a season, period. 

Ridley, 28, is set to play on the fifth-year option of his rookie contract in 2023 and is currently due to become a free agent in 2024.

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Former Seahawks LB Shaquem Griffin announces retirement from NFL

Griffin says he doesn’t want fans to feel sorry for him and thanked coach Pete Carroll for giving him a chance.

Former Seahawks linebacker Shaquem Griffin has announced his retirement from the NFL. Griffin broke the news himself in a column for the Player’s Tribune this morning. Griffin was picked by Seattle in the fifth round of the 2018 NFL draft, joining his brother Shaquill – a third-round selection from the previous year.

Griffin went on to play 46 games for the Seahawks before getting cut prior to the 2020 season. He worked his way back onto the practice squad but only appeared in one game that year. Last season, Griffin worked out for several teams around the league but in the end only wanted to play with his brother on the Jaguars.

“The Dolphins cut me before the 2021 season. I worked out for the Cardinals, the Titans and the Jets, and then I got calls from Buffalo, Dallas and Atlanta. But after that Jets workout, I realized something. All this traveling around, working out for teams, trying to catch on somewhere, trying to hang on — it wasn’t what I wanted. Football had already given me so much, and the only thing I still really wanted from the game was to play with my brother again. So I told my agent, Buddy Baker, thank you for grinding and bringing me these opportunities. But unless it’s Jacksonville, I’m good.”

Griffin says he doesn’t want fans to feel sorry for him and thanked coach Pete Carroll for giving him a chance with the Seahawks, as well as former teammates like Bobby Wagner, K.J. Wright and his brother.

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What Texas QB Quinn Ewers had to say to Longhorns fans via The Players’ Tribune

Quinn Ewers wrote a message to Longhorns fans via The Players’ Tribune, here are some interesting things he said.

Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers is very aware of the amount of pressure he is under. Continue reading “What Texas QB Quinn Ewers had to say to Longhorns fans via The Players’ Tribune”

3 Texans to work with NFLPA externship program

The Houston Texans have three players who will be taking part in the NFLPA’s externship program in March.

The Houston Texans have players who are aiming to achieve more off the field.

According to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle, outside linebacker Brennan Scarlett, safety Michael Thomas, and safety Eric Murray are taking part in the NFL Players Association’s externship program that helps with their transition from football to the “real world” when their playing days are over.

The goal of the externship is to provide after-football career opportunities that emphasize networking experiences.

Scarlett will be working with Target Accelerators while Murray will be working with The Players’ Tribune. Thomas will work with the marketing side of the players’ union, NFL Players Inc.

“We believe that this year’s virtual externship experience will provide our player members with a unique opportunity to broaden their knowledge, skillset, and network in new, innovative ways that will serve them well during life after football,” NFLPA player manager Connor Ford said.

The three Texans are a part of 52 players who will work for 24 different organizations in March.

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Cameron Jordan, Mark Ingram launch a podcast; Alvin Kamara is guest No. 1

Former Saints teammates Cameron Jordan and Mark Ingram will co-host their new “Truss Levelz” podcast with Alvin Kamara as their first guest.

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Mark Ingram might be scoring touchdowns for the Baltimore Ravens these days, but he’s still very tight with his old New Orleans Saints teammates — so much so that he’s co-hosting a weekly podcast with Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan, entitled “Truss Levelz” (derived from each player’s on-field celebrations and catchphrases) and produced by The Players’ Tribune.

Ingram and Jordan were both drafted by New Orleans back in 2011 as first-round picks (Jordan at No. 24, Ingram at No. 28), and they’re each ranked high in the franchise record books. Ingram bested Deuce McAllister’s career touchdown runs record (50) before leaving for the Ravens in free agency a year ago, while Jordan is a couple of good years away from competing with Rickey Jackson’s all-time sacks record (Jackson had 115; Jordan is next-best with 87).

The pair plans to give listeners an inside scoop to two of the NFL’s most vibrant locker rooms, having lined up interviews with all-star teammates like Alvin Kamara, Lamar Jackson, and Marquise Brown. Their list of guests includes other big names such as Travis Kelce, Bobby Wagner, George Kittle, Derrick Henry (another proud Alabama product and Heisman Trophy winner, like Ingram) and Mike Evans, which might get contentious.

Episode 1 drops Wednesday, Sept. 23 on all major podcast platforms, and The Players’ Tribune website, and Kamara will be their first guest appearance. So we’ll be sure to tune in; while you’re looking them up, be sure to subscribe to our own Saints Wire weekly podcast to review the latest happenings for the black and gold.

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Tom Brady pens piece for The Players’ Tribune

Tom Brady wrote a long article for The Players’ Tribune, addressing many subjects.

Tom Brady and his family are renting Derek Jeter’s mansion in Florida. The Tampa Bay Bucs’ quarterback also took up some space Monday in a venture the Yankee Hall of Famer used to own.

Brady wrote a piece for The Players’ Tribune entitled “The Only Way is Through.” In it he says, “Changes and challenges are part of life. They’re part of athletes’ lives. They’re supposed to happen. They need to happen sometimes.”

That would address his move from the New England Patriots to the Bucs after six Super Bowls and 20 years in Foxboro.

Brady praised New England and its fans:

But more than any one physical place, it’s the relationships I made in New England that I’ll miss the most. Of course, it starts with the entire New England Patriots organization, and Robert Kraft and the entire Kraft family. It extends to countless other individuals who played such a valuable role in my 20 years as a Patriot. Teammates and coaches, past and present. Old friends, new friends, the neighbors we went trick-or-treating with every year. But mostly, I’ll miss the fans.

If there’s one thing anyone can say for sure, it’s that New Englanders understand what fandom is all about. New Englanders just really, really love their sports. That’s maybe because compared to New York, or Chicago, or Los Angeles, Boston feels less like a big city than it does a large small town. Even if you don’t know everybody in Boston, you feel like you know everybody. The fans feel like they’re part of our team, and my teammates and I felt the same way about them.

He concluded by writing:

Right now, though, I have things to prove to myself. The only way is through. If I don’t go for it, I’ll never know what I could have accomplished. Wanting to do something is different from actually doing it. If I stood at the bottom of a mountain, and told myself I could scale the highest peak, but then didn’t do anything about it, what’s the point of that? …

I want to show everybody what I got.

 

 

Dion Dawkins sets it straight on Bills Mafia: ‘Bandwagon is full’

Buffalo Bills OL Dion Dawkins pens letter to Bills Mafia in The Players’ Tribune.

Buffalo Bills offensive lineman Dion Dawkins took time out of his offseason to jump on The Players’ Tribune.

The outlet, made for and by professional athletes, allows players all across sports to touch on topics personal to them with a personal touch. What is near and dear to Dawkins? Bills Mafia.

Dawkins used the outlet to pen his thoughts on the season that was and that teammates that are special to him. But an overlying topic was Bills fans and he had two key thoughts.

First, if you’re in, you’re in. If you’re not, don’t try to become a bandwagon member of Bills Mafia.

“I have an important message for those people,” Dawkins explained. “DO NOT TRY THIS.”

“The bandwagon is full,” Dawkins added.

But Dawkins wasn’t just trying to warn outsiders, he was excited to thank the Day 1 members. The left tackle explained throughout his football career, folks only knew he was a football player because he was big. But not in Buffalo.

Dawkins writes:

In Buffalo, man, it’s crazy. It’s crazy! Y’all are crazy. And I mean that in the best way possible. I’ll be at Wegmans, just shopping around, minding my business — and it’s not, “Big man over there, I think he might play for the Bills??” It’s not even, “Oh yeah, that dude, he plays for the Bills.” It’s, “DION!” It’s, “Shnowman!” It’s, “You already shnow!” And maybe that sounds like a small thing….. but I have to tell you, it’s really big. Those interactions, those moments with fans, those quick little hellos where the whole thing just lodges in your brain, like, Wow, what I do matters to these people? And they don’t just know me….. they know ABOUT me?? No lie: I cherish those moments. I will forever.

For Dawkins’ full article in The Players’ Tribune, click here.