Robert Saleh Says Jordan Elliott Needs Help, Not Condemnation

Tennessee Titans defensive tackle Jordan Elliott was a surprise inactive for Sunday's game, not traveling with the team. Head coach Robert Saleh told reporters only that Elliott was "dealing with personal stuff." On Tuesday, the Titans released Elliott, along with a cryptic statement referencing an "incident." One never wants to have an incident, but the lack of detail only made the whole thing more mysterious.

Later that day, we finally got enough detail to say, Oh yeah, that'll do it. As first reported by Austin Stanley and Easton Freeze of AtoZSports.com and Aaron Wilson of KPRC, last week Elliott got into a practice beef with a teammate and left to go get his gun.

Elliott and offensive tackle JC Latham got into a fight during drills at the Titans' facility, the reports say, and Elliott was told by coaches to leave the field. He left the building, going out to the players' parking lot with the intention of retrieving a gun from his car. Defensive lineman John Franklin-Myers, a real hero here, was able to talk Elliott out of getting the gun, and he never brought it back into the building.

NFL spokesperson Brian McCarthy said via email on Wednesday, “The league’s firearm policy prohibits any personnel from bringing a firearm to club facilities, stadiums, and team hotels and on team planes or buses. The club promptly notified the league of the matter which is under review.”

One imagines that Elliott, 28, will have trouble finding another NFL job anytime soon. But that's not for an unwillingness of Saleh to put in a good word for him. At his press availability on Wednesday, Saleh went to bat for Elliott, calling him "a great man, a great father, a man who shows up on time every day, works his ass off every day."

“I will stand on the table for Jordan’s character. Unfortunately, rules are rules with regard to guns on property. And sometimes it’s far greater than the knee-jerk reaction of kicking somebody when they’re down. My message to 31 other teams would be if you need a hell of a run-stopping D-tackle that can help you on a playoff run, give me a call, I’ll tell you everything you need to know about him. He’s a good man. Had a terrible lapse in judgment that I recognize as a call for help more than a criminal act.

"It’s unfortunate the way it went down. As far as Jordan’s concerned, and the locker room and all that, I think people see it differently here than the knee-jerk reaction of the [rest of the] world.”

Elliott played under Saleh in San Francisco before signing with Tennessee this offseason. But Saleh's words today are more than just a coach defending his guy. He recontextualizes the whole incident—what if Elliott hadn't been intending to use that gun to shoot or threaten someone else, as everyone had assumed from initial reporting? The situation is still scary, still awful, but a very different thing in that light.

As Saleh noted, the NFL has had two suicides of active players in as many years, and of course has depressingly high rates of suicide among former players. Football, for various reasons including constant brain trauma, is not exactly a hotbed of mental wellness. There are programs in place offered by both the league and the players' union, but they can only do so much, and once a player's out of the sport or even just away from a team, the safety net thins appreciably. Jordan Elliott's understandably going to be out of work for at least a while—"rules are rules," as Saleh said, and You can't bring a gun to the workplace is a sensible policy—but if this was a cry for help, who's going to give it?

The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is a hotline for people in crisis or for those looking to help someone else. To speak with a trained listener, call or text 988. Or visit 988lifeline.org.