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Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones spoke publicly for the first time about the death of defensive end Marshawn Kneeland, saying he was ‘devastated’ by the loss.
Jones’ comments, made Nov. 11 on 105.3 The Fan, follow the suspected death by suicide of Kneeland, 24, in Frisco, Texas, last week.
‘Just hard to believe the content that was on the other phone in the middle of the night when we all got the news,’ Jones said.
‘I think we all have unfettered feelings about the people we love, people we work with, and this is just a time when you acknowledge that there’s no answers,’ Jones said on the radio. ‘It makes you want to live life to the fullest. It makes you want to look for the very best in what we have for each other. And in some way make sense out of these times in terms of what they can mean from helping those that are here on Earth right now.
‘All of those things are very natural, come to mind, but his death is such a national awareness thing that it takes on some of that light when we think about how we go forward.’
Teams around the NFL paid tribute to Kneeland during Week 10 by holding moments of silence prior to kickoff. The Cowboys were on a bye week.
According to the Cowboys’ official website, the team held an ’emotional’ in-person meeting on Monday.
Cowboys to honor Marshawn Kneeland with helmet decal
Jones revealed the Cowboys will honor Kneeland by wearing a special helmet decal for the rest of the season.
The Cowboys travel to Las Vegas to take on the Raiders on Monday night. It’ll mark the Cowboys’ first game since Kneeland’s death.
‘From the standpoint of the team, from the standpoint of going back to work, there’s no doubt in my mind that they will do so in memory of what he was all about,’ Jones said.
‘He was very unique in his zest for life, and he was very unique in his passion for the game. And of course the saddest thing for someone like me is the fact that he was only 24 years old. You think about all of the time that we’re going to miss him, and he’s going to be missed by the people around him, he was just getting started.’