Professional football players are scrutinized for being underpaid, overvalued crybabies, but let’s be honest here.

How would you like to go to work and have somebody follow you around with a camera everyday and have your every move and comment placed under a microscope?

For NFL players these days, this is not just a hypothetical situation, but a reality.

Even after they leave their place of work for the day, they continue to be bombarded by reporters and followed around by media trying to catch every possible glimpse of their personal as well as professional life.

For some players, this pressure and stress is simply too much to handle, the pressure, often self-imposed, to be perfect on the field and off.

This has been exemplified recently by the suicide of Denver Broncos wide-receiver and special teams contributor Kenny McKinley. McKinley is not the first NFL player to suffer from stress and anxiety related issues.

These cases have come from all levels of the league, such as former Oakland Raiders pro-bowl center Barret Robbins, who disappeared just days before he was supposed to play in Super Bowl XXXVII and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

They have also come from non-star players, like McKinley, a fifth round draft pick of the Broncos in 2009.

McKinley was supposedly depressed by his inability to play significantly and progress up the depth chart for a second consecutive year due to knee injuries.

Being a fifth round pick does not put one on the top of the proverbial totem pole of an NFL squad, and sometimes teams are quick to cut these players loose when injuries occur because they are not a high pick.

This could have contributed to McKinley’s depression and subsequent suicide, but these pressures don’t just affect late draft picks or unproven players.

There have also been former first round picks Dimitrius Underwood and Alonzo Spellman who have struggled with depression.

Even All-Pro Dolphins running back Ricky Williams and former Pro Bowl punter Greg Montgomery are among those who have dealt with these problems.

Williams and Montgomery have gotten help and treatment for their problems, something many players refuse to do.

Williams for one, has spoken openly about his personal battles with depression as well as anxiety.

“The nature of the job is inhumane. It’s the most stressful job I can think of. There are jobs that are more dangerous, but the pressure to perform every day is intense,” Williams said. “So it’s easy to project that the pressure comes from outside and that the problem isn’t you.”

This provides insight into just how much pressure these players are under to be perfect on a daily basis, when in reality they are simply human.

The NFL provides services for players such as free counseling sessions and trained staff who specialize in these issues who visit all NFL teams on a regular basis.

The problem is that many players are told from a young age that they are superhuman simply because they play football for a living.

This leads player to develop a “superman” complex, thinking they can overcome anything.

Players will then often ignore the signs of depression until it is too late, as was the case with McKinley.

So give football players a break, you are not perfect, and neither are they. Cut them some slack, they’re only human.

Bradley Kupiec is a freshman journalism major. She can be reached at 581-7942 or at

[email protected].