Calvin Ridley, star WR for the Atlanta Falcons, becomes the latest in a string of professional athletes going public with their mental health issues and taking time away from sports.
I am happy seeing that the more famous people that come forward with these issues, the less mental health is stigmatized and accepted as a real health issue in this country. People with mental health issues need to know they will be accepted by others and by society and not ostracized or stigmatized or felt to be considered weaker or less of a person simply because the have a mental health issue.
I'm curious what your thoughts are on this: How do you handle mental health absences in a league of guaranteed contracts? If a player wants to take time off because their mental health isn't right, should they still get paid? What if the absence is a year, or two? Depression can be chronic, and potentially career ending. It's also almost based largely on self-report. If Ben Simmons tells the Sixers he can't mentally play, are they on the hook for $160 million if his doctor says he's not getting better?
It's a really tricky situation to navigate, I think. Mental health needs support, but is it an avenue for guys to force trades and not honor contracts?
I think it needs to be handled much like physical ailments. If someone needs a mental health break with a game or two off, it should be handled no differently than someone getting sick or the flu and needing a game or two off.
Extended time off for physical ailments are almost always at the behest of team physicians who verify the injury and set a regimen for recovery and a timeline to return. Maybe have every team have a psychiatrist and psychologist to treat mental health issues and verify their existence and set about a plan to recovery and return to the team.
If the mental health issue is such that it's permanently going to impair the player's ability to perform, have the player retire and have it handled accordingly, like the Chris Bosh situation.
Just handle it like regular physical ailments. It might mean the 30 teams adding mental health professionals to their teams, if they don't already have them, and something put into the CBA that if you are claiming a mental health issue you must be seen by a team medical professional for treatment and verification.
Regarding Simmons, if he went to a mental health professional my guess is that professional could determine the veracity of his claim quite easily.