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Jerry Jones was “devastated” by the news of Marshan Kneeland’s death.
The Dallas Cowboys are mourning the loss of Marshawn Kneeland, and Jerry Jones is planning a special way to honor the late Cowboys defensive end.
The Cowboys owner and general manager opened up about Kneeland’s death for the first time on his weekly radio appearance on KRLD on Tuesday.
Kneeland, of course, died of what was reported as a self-inflicted gunshot wound after a police chase in Dallas on Thursday. The 24-year-old had spent two seasons in Dallas, after it chose him in the second round of the 2024 NFL Draft.
The Cowboys were on a bye this weekend but returned to practice Tuesday ahead of their upcoming game against the Raiders on Monday night at Allegiant Stadium.
Jerry Jones Was ‘Devastated’ By The Death Of Marshawn Kneeland
Jones had a one-word answer when asked about his reaction to the Kneeland news.
“Devastated,” Jones said. “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 the Cowboys will honor Kneeland by wearing t-shirts for warmups for their next two games, on the road against the Las Vegas Raiders and at home against the Philadelphia Eagles. He also said they will don a helmet decal acknowledging him as well, while noting the Cowboys players and staff will have to grapple with their grief the rest of the year.
“We all are having to share the sorrow, all are having to share the different ways or different things that come through your mind,” Jones said. “It’s not light that as a teammate, Marshawn touched everybody in many different ways.
“The very definition of team is we love each other, we rely on each other. That’s the ethos of what a team is about. Everybody expects that this is a rough game, it takes some real mental toughness to play the game, but in fact there’s a lot of love for each other there that is shared in unique ways, and you get to know each other pretty good.”
Brian Schottenheimer Is Helping The Cowboys’ Grieving Process
Losing a teammate midseason is going to have an impact on the Cowboys. Luckily, Jones said Dallas has an asset at dealing with this in coach Brian Schottenheimer.
“Schotty does have a realism about him because he simply was born into it in terms of being around anything unique about a football team,” Jones said. “I think we all have unfettered feelings about the people we love, people we work with.”
Kneeland became the latest Cowboys player to lose his life midseason — one of a handful since Jones took over the team in 1989. But Jones also acknowledged he is soul searching amid this tragedy.
“This is just a time when you acknowledge that there’s no answers,” Jones said. “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 some sense out of these times.”
Pat Pickens is an experienced sports writer and media personality who has written for outlets like NHL.com, the Associated Press, the New York Times and USA Today. He covers the NFL, NBA, NHL and NBA as a breaking news contributor at Heavy. More about Pat Pickens
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