Marshawn Kneeland was subject of welfare checks at Western Michigan, according to report

By Canadian Press on November 21, 2025.

Western Michigan University police were twice called to perform welfare checks on Marshawn Kneeland while the late Dallas Cowboys defensive end played for the school, according to a published report.

Kneeland, 24, was found dead Nov. 6 of what police said was an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound, hours after being pursued by officers who had attempted a traffic stop in suburban Dallas.

ESPN reported Friday that two WMU coaches called police in 2023 because they were worried about whether Kneeland was mentally fit to possess a gun, according to documents the network obtained in an open-records request.

The other incident came three years earlier, when a friend of Kneeland called 911 to express concern for his well-being. Responding officers found him near train tracks in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and reported that Kneeland said he had been sitting across the tracks in hopes that a train would run over him.

The Cowboys declined to comment Friday.

The more recent incident came about 10 months before the Cowboys selected Kneeland in the second round of the 2024 NFL draft. This season was his second with the Cowboys, and he died three days after recovering a blocked punt in the end zone for a touchdown in a 27-17 loss to Arizona.

Western Michigan coach Lance Taylor and then-defensive coordinator Lou Esposito called police because they were concerned that Kneeland had recently separated from his girlfriend, and they “wanted to make sure he was mentally fit to possess a firearm,” according to a campus police report.

Kneeland voluntarily turned in the gun but got it back less than two weeks later after obtaining a letter from a social worker at the Western Michigan Sindecuse Health Center stating that Kneeland was examined and found not to be a threat to himself or others, according to the report.

The report from the 2020 incident says Kneeland did not want to seek medical help but that Kent County sheriff’s deputies who responded to the scene sent Kneeland to a hospital. The report doesn’t say anything about Kneeland’s release from the hospital.

Kneeland died during the Cowboys’ bye week. They played their first game without him Monday night, winning 33-16 at the Las Vegas Raiders. The first Dallas home game since Kneeland died is Sunday against Philadelphia.

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The Associated Press

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