Just told Dak that he doesn’t care about him being depressed about his brother’s suicide because he plays for the Cowboys and it could be a sign of weakness……
Imagine pic.twitter.com/0elYaYfbsP
— ⭐️New Season Who This 0-0⭐️ (@Ace_Eca4) September 10, 2020
As he’s wont to do, Skip Bayless caused controversy on Thursday for criticizing Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, for his admission that he sought help for with mental health issues, including depression and anxiety, this offseason in the wake of his his brother, Jace, who committed suicide in April.
Bayless argued that the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys admitting such a thing is a sign of weakness.
“I’m going to ask our audience to feel free to go ahead and condemn me, if you choose, as cold-blooded and insensitive on this issue,” Bayless said Thursday on “Undisputed.” “I have deep compassion for clinical depression, but when it comes to the quarterback of an NFL team … it’s the ultimate leadership position in sports. … You are commanding an entire franchise … you’re commanding a lot of young men and some older men, and they’re all looking to you to be their CEO, to be in charge of the football team.
“Because of all that, I don’t have sympathy for him going public with, ‘I got depressed. I suffered depression early in COVID to the point that I couldn’t even go work out.’ Look, he’s the quarterback of America’s team. … [The NFL] is dog eat dog. It is no compassion, no quarter given on the football field. If you reveal publicly any little weakness, it can affect your team’s ability to believe in you in the toughest spot.”
49ers defensive lineman Solomon Thomas, who recently lost his sister to suicide, was among the vocal chorus who pushed back against Bayless’ comments on social media, arguing that calling somebody weak for being honest about their mental health struggles only stigmatizes the issue.
Shame on @RealSkipBayless. Are you kidding me? This is why we have a stigma against mental health, suicide, and depression.@dak being vulnerable is showing unbelievable strength and leadership. He’s impacting so many lives. Dak’s a true leader for speaking about his real emotions
— Solomon Thomas (@SollyThomas90) September 10, 2020
“Shame on Skip Bayless,” Thomas wrote on Twitter. “Are you kidding me? This is why we have a stigma against mental health, suicide, and depression. Dak being vulnerable is showing unbelievable strength and leadership. He’s impacting so many lives. Dak’s a true leader for speaking about his real emotions”
Skip’s cohost on ‘Undisputed,’ Shannon Sharpe, also defended Dak.
“I understand he plays quarterback, he’s the face of a franchise but at the end of the day I take all that away. He’s still human,” Sharpe said. “There’s a human element of this. And you guys think because we play this sport, because we’re good at a sport, we don’t have feelings, we don’t have emotions.
“He’s human. He’s human.”