The offseason National Football League (NFL) time is here and the teams are comparing the 40-yard dash times, bench-press lifts, and three-cone drill times.
All the 32 teams of NFL have gathered the data to determine whether the draft prospects are strong and fast enough to play in the league. Such vital information can help to put a value on the players.
The league’s next step is to assess the prospects of mental health and wellness.
Semaj White, the founder and chief executive officer of the Hero Advocacy Group in Las Vegas, said, “A great performance starts with a healthy mind. You are talking about the ability to perform, and if there is any post-traumatic stress, if there is any heightened anxiety, if there is any depression, if any of that exists, it is going to conversely affect the athlete’s ability to perform at his highest level.”
Teams put players through a series of physical and medical tests at the NFL.
White said, “That’s just like the ability to read plays, the ability to follow instruction and the ability to perform or execute in various areas of which an individual is paid to do. It’s definitely more difficult when an individual is not healthy mentally.”
White explained that he considers his firm a holistic advocacy agency that helps focus on the individual’s mental health, physical health, behavioral health, as well as spiritual well-being. He said, “Mental health, if it’s not even checked or assessed, that individual is not going to perform. I don’t care how much you practice or how many times you drill them, he’s not going to ever come back to the level of optimal performance.”
NFL players, as well as their families, have access to at least eight counseling sessions every year through their health insurance benefit packages.
NFL’s senior vice president of player engagement Arthur McAfee said, “Each club created a space for either a full-time clinician to be in a service space with the players as well as made some available frequently throughout the season for the players. A majority of the clubs have been taking it seriously for quite some time.”
Also, the football league started a 24/7 free and confidential mental wellness and suicide-prevention hotline along with online chat resource.
NFL Life Line has well-trained counselors on specific mental issues that players and their families often face.
The Atlanta Falcons had encountered mental health issue this offseason when LA police detained Takk McKinley earlier this year, who then had to undergo a mental evaluation. McKinley was deemed fine and returned to Oakland to be with his family.
Atlanta Falcons coach Dan Quinn said, “We will do everything we possibly can to support and assist Takk as our players’ mental and physical well-being are always our top priority.”
“Right now, in my opinion, it’s been awesome to see that topic, knowing that it’s OK to speak about now. Where maybe years ago, when a lot of us started, maybe we’d pushed that aside. To have that out and be able to talk about it, it’s only going to be stronger and stronger as we go,” the coach said.
The NFL hired Nyaka NiiLampti, a former NFLPA’s director of player of wellness, as the vice president of wellness and clinical services. Nyaka is a qualified psychologist with over 15 years of clinical experience. Quinn said, “I think the biggest one is counseling. Sometimes it’s teammate to teammate, that’s counseling. Other times, its professional help to deal with some things that maybe a teammate is not equip to. Having access on a regular basis to counseling and having some other opinions to talk through things that helps a lot.”
