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NFL News: Former Dallas Cowboys’ Player Marshawn Kneeland Diagnosed with CTE
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- NFL News: Former Dallas Cowboys’ Player Marshawn Kneeland Diagnosed with CTE
Former Dallas Cowboys edge rusher Marshawn Kneeland has been diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, less than one year after he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The Concussions & CTE Foundation announced this week on behalf of Kneeland's family that apost-mortem brain tissue analysis of the former NFL player determined he had been suffering from Stage 1 CTE at just 24 years old.
""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. 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. My team and I are fully dedicated to finding effective treatments and a cure for CTE."
Dr. Ann McKee, who serves as the chief of neuropathology for the VA Boston Healthcare system and is director for the Boston University CTE Center, said in the press release that nearly half of athletes studied who died before the age of 30 were found to have the progressive brain disease.
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The National Football League has made efforts in recent years to reduce the number of head injuries and better treat players who suffer concussions. From the modernization of helmets to the league's adapted kickoff rules and numerous changes to the NFL's concussion protocols, numerous steps have been taken.
While all of this centered on a desire to reduce the number of former NFL players who are later posthumously diagnosed with CTE, it appears to be having little positive effect. Dr. Chris Nowinski, the CEO of the Concussion & CTE Foundation, shared that the company's research hasn't given any reason to believe football players who are coming into the game now are at any lesser risk for developing the brain disease.
""Mr. Kneeland played in the modern era of concussion protocols and better helmets, and yet he still developed CTE. We have no reason to believe the current generation is at a lower risk of CTE than previous generations. Concussion protocols do not prevent CTE, because CTE is caused by repeated head impacts, not just concussions. If we want to reduce CTE risk, we must implement CTE prevention protocols and aggressively reduce the number and strength of head impacts at every level of the game."
On the night of Nov. 5, 2025, just two nights after he played against the Arizona Cardinals on Monday Night Football, Kneeland had reportedly been involved in a police pursuit in Frisco, Texas after he didn't stop for a traffic violation. Officers later lost sight of the vehicle, but a short time later law enforcement was called to the scene of a crash where he fled on foot, sparking a multi-agency search due to welfare concerns. The call was made about an hour after the original police pursuit began.
"He sent out some group texts that are concerning — probably mental health — but the group texts seemed to be saying goodbye — made some statement about not able to go to prison or to jail."
Frisco police officers began searching for Kneeland's vehicle following a call placed by the Texas Department of Public Safety at 10:39 p.m. that Wednesday night. Kneeland's vehicle was found abandoned minutes later following a crash, with police discovering his body at 1:31 a.m. Thursday morning, having died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
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There are four documented stages of CTE, with Stage 1 being the earliest phase. In Stage 1, per CTESociety.com , the most common signs are headaches, aggressive tendencies, explosivity, concentration issues and depression. Kneeland's girlfriend later gave birth to their first child, a son, in June of this year.
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