‘We still have a long way to go’: Thomas spearheading NFL’s mental health push

When the Buffalo Bills kicked a late field goal against the New York Jets last Monday night to win the all-New York state clash , dropping the Jets to 2-4 and dealing their hopes of winning the AFC East title a mighty blow, star linebacker Solomon Thomas was keeping it in perspective. Yes, it was a setback, but it was no biggie.

He may be a hugely successful sports star and multimillionaire, but Thomas is as familiar with adversity as anyone. Born seven weeks prematurely and weighing only four pounds (he's put on nearly 300 since then), in just two Pac-12 seasons with Stanford, the Texas schoolboy developed into one of the finest linebackers in the country. He forsook the final year of his communications degree to enter the NFL Draft in 2017, and was snapped up third overall by the San Francsico 49ers. He was that good. He missed the 2020 season with an ACL injury and was released by the 49ers but losing a year of your career was nothing when you've lost a sister.

With a nation of sports fans focused on his impact, Thomas made his NFL debut a few days after his 22nd birthday. He was being paid around $7m a year (roughly £100,000 a week) but was desperately unhappy with anxiety and depression. Days after his rookie pro season ended, his big sister Ella killed herself, aged 24. That would have ended the career of many young men. It nearly cost Thomas his life – but instead opened up a new world to him.

"I was very fortunate to have good support from the Niners," Solomon told me during World Mental Health Week. "They helped me and my family out at that time and got me into therapy which really kind of saved my life. That was huge. I'm very thankful for their support getting me out of the dark place I was in and to begin to see the light again. From then on, I learned more and more about the practice and became an advocate for mental health."

With his parents Martha and Chris, in 2021 Thomas launched The Defensive Line, a mental health charity working with schools, clubs and businesses across the States. Three years later it won a Heisman Humanitarian Award.

"We're an educational service, teaching mentors how to conduct a business, a classroom, a locker room in a healthy mental health manner," explains Thomas. "If your loved ones, your co-workers, teammates, students get to a point, you know how to handle it, how to create a safe mental health environment where they can talk about it freely, have the correct language and know the resources in that area so you can get professional help. We're teaching any mentor how to have a crisis action plan in case that situation does occur."

In the seven years since hitting rock bottom, Thomas has seen support for players' mental health develop considerably in the NFL, as it has in other sports. Thomas appreciates he would probably get more support now than when he needed it most.

"I would have gotten through it faster if there'd been a better environment around it, and not got to a point where my back was against the wall when I got into therapy.

"It's gotten a lot better. The NFL had a mental health initiative a few years ago requiring an in person professional practitioner to be there a couple of times a week, giving us more access to mental health healthcare for our families and ourselves outside the building and putting more emphasis on it. The environment now is more to accept help and get into help quicker."

The day before meeting Thomas, I was in Lancashire learning about player wellbeing programmes being delivered in Super League by Rugby League Cares. A team of former players and coaches turned qualified practitioners are working with club wellbeing managers with the focus moving from crisis management to preventive programmes. With pint-sized resources compared to the NFL's ocean, British rugby league is doing groundbreaking work, when it should be the reverse.

"We still have a long way to go," admits Thomas. "Teaching guys how to take care of themselves in a high pressure environment, in an environment that just leaves you once you're done with the game; how to practice those things and check up on your mental health, find a therapist or psychiatrist; if you need medication how to get that and what is correct, your insurance. All these things need to be worked on."

Positive life experiences are paramount ingredients. Coming to London this month with the Jets was another experience to enjoy. "Playing overseas is special," said Thomas. "Plenty of guys had never left the country before so I was really happy for them. It's really important for them to see a new place and understand there's so much more than America, one way to do things, one culture."

Thomas should know. A solid 2021 with the Raiders in Las Vegas brought a move to the east coast for a player who spent five years as a child in Mosman, New South Wales – Manly Sea Eagles territory – thanks to his father's work at Procter & Gamble. In a reverse move of the American All Stars in No Helmets Required , who went from playing football at Stanford to rugby league in Sydney, Thomas went from Sydney to Stanford to play football.

"We used to go to the beach there all the time – it was really cool," Thomas says. "It was awesome, special. My family has been back quite a bit but it's been a while. We loved our time there, the people and their beautiful country. I definitely miss it and want to go back, it has a warm place in my heart."

Such positivity is central to Rugby League Cares' approach. In their attempt to support not just those who are unwell but to include those who are OK, they use a wellbeing maturity model on which players self-assess where they are at, while academy players complete a youth wellbeing heatmap assessing their own physical, emotional and spiritual health before one to one meetings with wellbeing managers. The emphasis is on preventing poor mental health and boosting the positive elements of players' lives. The Defensive Line are moving down a similar path.

"We're implementing safe mental health practices in whatever entity of work – meeting room, locker room, wherever – to make sure everyone feels they can be themselves, build each other, know how to ask the right questions, how to listen – and know where to go when they are in need of help," says Thomas.

As a prime example of financial wealth not equating to emotional health, a key element of Thomas's mission is encouraging teammates to start planning for life after football.

"It's just to have them understand that football is not forever – the NFL stands for Not For Long; to build identity outside the game. You're more than a footballer: you're a human being, a father, brother, son, husband, whatever it is. You've got so much more to offer the world than just football, so start preparing yourself for that, start exploring yourself, understanding what you like.

"That's what therapy is good for, too: you learn what you like, work on your weaknesses, strengths, what stimulates you. Players need to ask 'what interests me outside the game, what gives me a drive, what motivates me, and gives me that same feeling outside of this?' Finding that is huge and building on it while you're still in the league, so when it's gone you still have a sense of what you are when it leaves you."

At 29 and with seven seasons under his belt, Thomas knows that he could be reaching the autumn of his career already. What is his next step?

"I don't know what's next for me. I'm interested in a lot of things. I love mental health and will forever speak the truth about it and encourage others – that will never die. But I'm not exactly sure if it's my calling for ever. I'll see what motivates me. I'm excited for my career after this, whatever that is."

This month Martha and Chris shared a stage with President Biden, Prince Harry and Matt Damon as they were lauded for The Defensive Line at the Clinton Global Initiative. "I'm so proud of all the work they do and how much they've given," says their son. "That was super cool."

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In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email or . In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org , or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org