Barksdale has Chronic Depression

[Bolt-O]

Yeah, he's a favorite punching bag for his play, and his video bombs, but he does have a challenge off the field. Best wishes for Joe, depression sucks.
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Chargers' Joe Barksdale breaks silence on his daily battles that have nothing to do with football

By Dan Woikehttp://www.latimes.com/sports/charge...202-story.html

[Fleet]

Makes sense. The outward comical and immature behavior is often a defense mechanism for those struggling with mental disorders. Thats probably why he annoyed me so much. Because i see myself in his behavior. But i have a grip on it. I too have battled depression for years. Thank God for the brotherhood of this forum community.

[Charged4Life]

Very well put. Life can be starkly sad at times.

[richpjr]

Depression is a thing that people who don't experience, can't understand. I don't suffer from it, but indirectly experienced how bad it is recently. A cousin of mine who our family was quite close to, committed suicide about 6 months ago. She was 28. It was such a massive shock. Outwardly, she seemed to be the happiest person I knew, always cheerful, friendly, optimistic and seemed to really enjoy life. She had just married about a year before that and one day we got a call from her mom that she went out hiking and hung herself. Totally blew me away - never, ever could have imagined it. But evidently she had suffered from it for years before she finally couldn't handle it any more. She just hid it so well. So while I can't really comprehend what it must be like, it really hit home and I have such empathy for people suffering from it.

[blueman]

I am so sorry for your loss.

[Charged4Life]

Damn, that is so sad. I feel for that woman who probably thought she could never show how she really felt. That must have been hell for her. always hiding in plain sight.

[blueman]

Oh man, thoughts and prayers to him.

[SDFan]

must be from watching his game films

:couch:

[Steve]

Barksdale is not a horrible player. But he is very streaky. There are times he just seems to implode.

There are also stretches when he can play with the best OT in football. On one sequence of a few plays, I saw him block a De several yards downfield on an outside run, then knock the guy back, taking out a S, and walling off a CB. On the next he has a textbook example of how a OT plays a end-tackle stunt, where he helped pass the DE off to Wiggins, and then ride his guy 10 yards past the pocket. Then several more plays where he was caving in the whole DL on down blocks, picking off guys in space and driving them downfield. If you only watched those few plays, you would swear he is one of the best RT in football.

Later in the same game, he allowed a sack (or a big hit on Rivers), then got called for offsides and holding in short order and the rest of the series he was very, very shaky.

I don't know enough about the clinical side of depression to do anything more than guess, but you have to wonder if his up and down performances might not be related.

[bonehead]

Makes sense. The outward comical and immature behavior is often a defense mechanism for those struggling with mental disorders. Thats probably why he annoyed me so much. Because i see myself in his behavior. But i have a grip on it. I too have battled depression for years. Thank God for the brotherhood of this forum community.

[bonehead]

Barksdale is not a horrible player. But he is very streaky. There are times he just seems to implode.

There are also stretches when he can play with the best OT in football. On one sequence of a few plays, I saw him block a De several yards downfield on an outside run, then knock the guy back, taking out a S, and walling off a CB. On the next he has a textbook example of how a OT plays a end-tackle stunt, where he helped pass the DE off to Wiggins, and then ride his guy 10 yards past the pocket. Then several more plays where he was caving in the whole DL on down blocks, picking off guys in space and driving them downfield. If you only watched those few plays, you would swear he is one of the best RT in football.

Later in the same game, he allowed a sack (or a big hit on Rivers), then got called for offsides and holding in short order and the rest of the series he was very, very shaky.

I don't know enough about the clinical side of depression to do anything more than guess, but you have to wonder if his up and down performances might not be related.

[Steve]

Even if he was a CPA, you would like to think that the employer would try and get an employee some help. In the NFL, where there are just very few people with the type of physical skills to play in the NFL, trying to fix peoples problems would seem to be a higher priority.

Granted, there are some Johnny Manziel and Ryan Leaf types that are just a train wreck waiting to happen, and you should try and stay away from them altogether. But if they have some lower level of issue, then getting them some help might pay big dividends. Barksdale had one season where he played very well for us. I think we owe him some level of loyalty for that. His other season have been very up and down.

I think it also sends the right message that in a cutthroat business like the NFL, it would probably get far better results in terms of motivating people. If everyone feels like they are part of the group, then the group can accomplish great things.

On the bussiness/football side of things, finding starting caliber OT is pretty difficult. There is a much bigger demand than there is supply. And trying to get Barksdale to play better is going to be way easier than finding a replacement OT this season. The top of the draft doesn't have OT who look like they can step in and start and there don't appear to be any FA OT who are any good. Not that we could afford them even if there were any.

[bonehead]

Sean Welsh OLine Iowa

http://hawkeyesports.com/news/2017/7/19/football-my-toughest-opponent-depression.aspx?path=football

[charger1993]

Damn now i feel bad fpr saying how much he sucked, hopefully he finds help before its to late. I dont want him to harm himself, or harm himself and his family like that guy who played for the chiefs " sorry cant remember his name right now". Hopefully joe gets well, i hope the chargers get him medical leave or something to try and grt him the help he needs. I know if i was an owner and i didnt try to get one of my players help and the unfortunate happened id feel like shit.

[6025]

[Charged4Life]

Well put.