Atlanta Falcons tight end Hayden Hurst joined Dukes & Bell as the team prepares to travel to Dallas to face the Cowboys. Hayden talked about how he has supported teammate Calvin Ridley through his mental health break from football.
Hurst was asked how he has supported teammate Calvin Ridley through Ridley’s mental health break from the team.
“When you’re going through stuff like that I don’t think anybody necessarily has the right answer, you know they’re not going to tell you how to fix it tomorrow,” Hurst said. “But what I’ve done and what people did around me when I was going through my darkest days was you just make yourself available. I sent Calvin a text and I talked to him before he left, I just told him hey man I’m here for you, he’s my locker buddy, we’ve had plenty of conversations. I just kind of left that door open, I put the ball in Calvin’s court and he knows that I’m here for him whatever he needs, whenever he needs it, I’m just a phone call away. I think that’s the best thing you can do with somebody in that situation, just make yourself available.”
Hayden talked about the things players can go through during a season.
“We’re also people too, we’re not just these gladiators that go out on Sunday and just play football. There’s feelings, emotions, there’s all sorts of stuff that goes into an NFL player throughout a 20 week plus season. Unfortunately life happens, I think that’s kind of what happened to Calvin and we’re here to support him anyway that we can.”