NFL kickers face an immense amount of pressure, often called upon in the game’s most critical moments, where they alone can determine whether their team wins or loses.
As a result, they often catch the ire of angry fans, and as New York Giants kicker Graham Gano revealed, they can sometimes go way too far.
“I hear everyone else’s frustration — media, fans. Shoot, ever since sports betting started happening, I get people telling me to kill myself every week,” Gano, 38, told ESPN in a story published Thursday, November 6. “‘Cause I’ll hit a kick that loses them money. I’ll miss a kick and it loses them money. It was the other day that someone told me to get cancer and die. I mean, that stuff is part of it.”
Gano has been sidelined with a neck injury that will keep him out of the Giants’ game on Sunday against the Chicago Bears.
“Just playing this long, you’re used to it by now. But with that being said, I see everyone’s frustration,” he continued. “And I’m frustrated too. I just want to play ball. Just constantly not being able to is tough. Doing everything I can to try to come back and play. That is my hope.”
ESPN reports that the Giants and NFL security have been tracking threats made against Gano in accordance with league safety protocols. Still, it’s hard for the veteran out of Florida State to block it all out.
“Nobody wants to hear that stuff,” he said. “I think everyone in the locker room knows if you have something going on to talk to somebody about it. I hope that everybody in here would. Nobody wants to hear stuff like that. I just want to make the fans happy, help the team win games and so not being able to do that is hard.”
He added, “I really don’t respond. I try not to see as much as I can. If I start seeing that stuff, I just shut it off. Unfortunately, that is part of the game. A lot of people will send you stuff like that. I’ll get letters, I’ll get fans telling me that stuff to my face game days, the DMs. I hear [similar stories] from other guys on the team too. It’s tough. Especially nowadays [with] mental health.”
Gano’s admission comes a day after Dallas Cowboys defensive end Marshawn Kneeland died by apparent suicide, following a police pursuit. His girlfriend told police that night that he had expressed suicidal ideation, and he reportedly texted his family to say goodbye.
“This is a pain you don’t wish upon anybody,” Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott told CBS Sports Texas on Thursday. “You wish none of us had to go through this. You wish Marshawn didn’t have to go through what he went through.”
Nebraska football coach Matt Rhule added in his weekly media availability that fans should remember that they never know what a player is going through off the field.
“I think we all should be careful about what we say to people,” he said. “I think we should be careful about what we tweet about people. I think we should be cognizant of what everyone’s going through.”
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org.
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