Marshawn Kneeland Suffered From Stage 1 CTE Before Suicide, Officials Say

Heartbreaking new details are coming to light about Marshawn Kneeland’s death. 

After the Dallas Cowboys player died at age 24 last November, researchers who conducted a post-mortem brain analysis found he suffered from Stage 1 chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) at the time of his death. They also confirmed his cause of death as suicide. 

“Unfortunately, I was not surprised to find CTE in the brain of Mr. Kneeland, because we have found this progressive brain disease in nearly half of the athletes we’ve studied who have died before the age of 30,” director of the Boston University CTE Center and chief of neuropathology for the VA Boston Healthcare System Dr. Ann McKee said in a July 7 press release. “Thanks to the generosity of our brain donor families, we now better understand the earliest stages of CTE, and it is bringing us closer than ever to diagnosing it during life.”

Noting that Kneeland played tackle football since the age of 7, the statement went on to explain how the degenerative brain disease—which occurs when repeated head injuries lead to the death of brain cells, per Mayo Clinic—is still a risk for football players despite modern safety precautions.