Cowboys star whose sister died of suicide pays heartbreaking tribute to Marshawn Kneeland

Solomon Thomas - the Cowboys lineman who lost his sister to suicide - has revealed the advice he gave his teammates in the wake of Marshawn Kneeland's shocking  death.

Dallas defensive end Kneeland died by apparent suicide last week at the age of 24 in a tragedy that sent shockwaves through the NFL. The Cowboys have been in mourning and head coach Brian Schottenheimer revealed earlier this week that Kneeland's wife, Catalina Mancera, is pregnant. 

His death comes seven years after Thomas' older sister - and 'best friend' - Ella took her own life. And on Thursday, the 30-year-old opened up on this latest tragedy.

'First off, you don’t escape grief,' Thomas began. 'Grief never leaves you. Grief is forever with you. And as soon as you feel like you’re on top of grief, grief will hit you on the head as hard as a rock.'

It was Catalina who warned cops that Kneeland had a gun and that she feared he would kill himself after he refused to pull over over a traffic violation in Frisco, Texas.  

The NFL star sent his family a group text saying 'goodbye' during the drama involving Texas Department of Public Safety troopers, according to a police audio dispatch. Cops lost sight of Kneeland, who then crashed his car into a pick-up truck and fled on foot. Officers found his body in a port-a-potty in the early hours of November 6.

Thomas created a foundation - The Defensive Line - in memory of his late sister. He revealed that his 'first' message to his teammates was 'to honor themselves throughout this process [and] don’t try to run away from the grief.'

'Because the moment you try and run away from it, the bigger it gets, and the more that will affect your performance.'

He added: 'If you have to go outside during meetings, walk around, call your mom, do that... that's what's important right now: feel that grief, feel that pain. Cry, be angry, be confused, because that's what's real.'

Thomas - who joined the Cowboys this year after spells on the 49ers, Raiders and Jets - even offered to 'hold' his teammates as they shed those tears.

The Cowboys will play their first game since Kneeland's death when they take on the Raiders on Monday night.

Thomas warned his teammates that they are 'going to feel the grief' because without Kneeland there will be 'an absence of spirit that's missing that's going to hurt a lot of people.'

But, he added: 'We can still move forward in a way to honor Marshawn by playing our best game and playing as hard as we can.'

Cowboys defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa also opened up on the loss of Kneeland on Thursday. 

'I was at my locker before practice and I looked up and I felt like I saw him, and "Ah nah, that’s someone else,"' he said. 'It hits you... just moments like that. It's still sinking in, to be honest. It still doesn’t feel all the way real.'

On Wednesday, Schottenheimer also announced that the team have set up a memorial fund to support his girlfriend, Catalina Mancera, and the unborn baby.

'She's pregnant and so we want to make sure she is taken care of and the baby is taken care of for the rest of their lives - it's very important to our guys and to us,' he said. 'The organization have been amazing, we've started the Marshawn Kneeland memorial fund where we can all give and support Catalina.'

Mancera, 22, spoke to the Daily Mail of her raw agony in the wake of Kneeland's shocking death. 

'It's too much,' said Mancera, who was seen leaving the apartment building in Plano, Texas where the defensive end had lived before his death.  

'I'm grieving hard right now. It will be a long time before I'll feel ready to talk at any length.'

She added: 'We're still in the early stages of everything. We are working on the funeral arrangements. I don't know where it's going to be yet.'  

Mancera began dating the NFL star when he was at Western Michigan University in her native Kalamazoo, his cousin Nicole Kneeland-Woods told the Daily Mail. He is from nearby Grand Rapids.