Tyler Lockett Admits He Nearly Quit Football Twice With Mental Health Struggles

BYCole Blake1.6K Views
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Tyler Lockett, Mental Health
Tyler Lockett says that he's dealt with depression and anxiety during his NFL career and it nearly caused him to quit the sport.

Seattle Seahawks star Tyler Lockett says that he's battled with depression and anxiety during his NFL career and that he considered quitting before having his best year. Lockett emphasized the importance of mental well-being during a series of posts on Twitter, earlier this week.

“2 years out of my 7 years in the NFL thus far I played through depression and anxiety and almost quit and had my best year,” he wrote Wednesday. “I played through trauma another year and had my best year. Moral of the story: Just keep going. You never know what’s waiting on the other side!”

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Lockett added that he initially tried to deal with depression and anxiety like any other injury and play through the pain. When this didn't work, he realized he had to be real with himself.

"Looking back now I’m so happy I kept going," he continued. "I’m a strong minded person and when faced with mental health situations I tried to hurry up and fix it like if I got hurt and practice got treatment for a day and I’m good. But with mental health you have to be real with yourself."

Seattle recently launched a Mental Health Matters program that focuses on encouraging conversations about mental health.

“It’s easy to operate in life when you live through your strengths,” the 29-year-old Lockett wrote. “But these last couple of years I had to live and rely on my weaknesses to get me through. I been more patient with myself than I’ve ever been. I had to learn that my mindset wasn’t the only way.”

Lockett was drafted to the Seahawks back in 2015 and is a former first-team All-Pro.

Check out Lockett's tweets below.




[Via]


About The Author
Cole Blake is currently an Editor at HotNewHipHop based out of Brooklyn, New York. He began working at the site as an intern back in 2018 while studying journalism at St. John’s University. In the time since, he’s graduated with a bachelor's degree and written extensively about a wide range of topics including pop culture, film & television, politics, video games, sports, and much more. He’s also covered music festivals such as Gov. Ball and Rolling Loud. You can find him publishing work for HNHH from Monday to Wednesday or on weekends. On the sports front, Cole’s a passionate NBA and NFL fan with his favorite teams being the Indianapolis Colts and Los Angeles Lakers. He also roots for the Yankees whenever he finds himself at Yankee Stadium or the Red Storm when in the company of other SJU alumni. His favorite hip-hop artists are billy woods, Earl Sweatshirt, Cam’ron, MIKE, and Mach-Hommy.
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