UM lineman spent month in mental health rehab. Will NFL scouts penalize him for it? | Habib
Defensive linemen trying to toss him out of their way? Javion Cohen will deal with them in due time. Those who gauge such things figure Cohen, an offensive lineman, will be drafted into the NFL in the fourth or fifth round out of the University of Miami.
First, Cohen has a different form of resistance to deal with. To know just how formidable it can be, check the words of players in this draft class when they met with reporters at the NFL combine. It doesn’t matter which player. Each one stepped before the microphones and described how tough he is. How he’s a dog. Willing to do anything for the team.
In some ways, Cohen is like them. In one important way, he’s not. He knows you can’t help your team until you help yourself. So when the pressures of trying to make it in this sport threatened to overtake him, at the urging of Nick Saban, his coach at the time at Alabama, Cohen checked himself in for a month of mental health rehab.
“I haven’t had a bad day since,” he says.
That’s great for Cohen. But what effect might it have on his NFL prospects? It’s a question that must be asked. Cohen wonders himself.
“I know it's not looked at in the brightest light among the NFL world,” he says.
Cohen figures that between the combine and Senior Bowl, he probably has met with all 32 NFL teams. Usually, such conversations are dominated by football talk as coaches and scouts try to gauge a prospect’s love and knowledge of the game. Sometimes, things go off the rails, such as the Chicago Bears testing a player’s competitive drive with a putting contest. In Cohen’s case? Sure, it was about football. But it also was about mental health.
“I’ve definitely had that conversation with them,” he says. “ … That's something that I lead with. I mean, that's who I am. I'm an advocate for mental health. That's exactly what I want to be.”
Cohen is part of a generation of athletes battling the stigma associated with mental health in competitors. The public likes to envision its sports heroes as just that — heroes. Then, along comes the most decorated Olympian of all time, Michael Phelps, addressing high school athletes in West Palm Beach in 2019 and telling them, "It's OK to not be OK." You hear that phrase now but didn’t hear it much four years ago. And certainly not from such a source. Since then, NFL players Dak Prescott and Hayden Hurst have spoken about their challenges with mental health.
The Dolphins also have been involved. Fullback Alec Ingold hosted a panel discussion at Hard Rock Stadium after a game in October as part of Mental Health Awareness Week. In November, linebacker Jaelan Phillips talked about how he and fellow linebacker Bradley Chubb are “not afraid to be vulnerable” after enduring an early season slump. Phillips has used sports psychologists, confidence coaches and meditation.
Not long after Cohen returned from rehab, Phelps visited Alabama’s campus and spoke about mental health.
“Rang home for me,” Cohen says. “ … I felt like we were one.”
Now, add Cohen’s voice to the chorus.
Cohen’s path to this point began at Central High in Alabama, where he first committed to South Carolina, then Auburn. Everything was set for him to sign with the Tigers until Saban popped up as Central was practicing for the state playoffs.
“I mean, you have a conversation with coach Saban, he’ll change your life,” Cohen says.
Javion Cohen honored during career at Alabama, Miami
Cohen spent three seasons with the Crimson Tide, becoming a starter at left guard his final season and making second-team All-SEC. From there, he landed in Coral Gables, where he won the left guard job and was honorable mention All-ACC.
It was after his 2021 season that he took Saban’s advice, heading to Massachusetts and a facility founded by former NBA player Chris Herren.
“I learned everything that I could,” he says. “Paid attention to everybody that was in the community around me. Learned more about meditation and more about how to balance my emotions.”
It opened his eyes on how to better cope in the world of major college football.
“Just put a lot of pressure upon myself worrying about my future and then didn’t give myself an outlet,” he says. “Feeling like as a man, I didn’t need to go talk about my emotions and speak about those types of things. But ultimately, you know, getting the knowledge that I did there, I learned that it was weaker to hold those in than to express those emotions.”
Cohen: Keeping troubles to yourself is not the way
He wrote on Instagram, “The biggest lesson, it’s okay to not be okay, but it is not okay to not say you’re not okay.”
That’s for everybody. Even guys about to be drafted into the NFL.
“We’re supposed to be raw, tough men,” he says.
More: NFL Mock Draft 2024: Joe Schad of Palm Beach Post, Mock 1.0
Cohen hopes to spend a decade in the NFL and someday might open camps dealing with mental health.
Today, he knows there’s a risk associated with being open on this subject. NFL teams can weigh that as they choose.
“Of course, they ask questions about it and I understand that,” he says. “I’m not shying away from it. That’s exactly who I am.
“And I’ve taken care of that business.”
The national suicide and crisis lifeline, offering free and confidential support, is available 24/7 by dialing 988.
Dolphins reporter Hal Habib can be reached at hhabib@pbpost.com. Follow him on social media @gunnerhal.
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This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Hurricanes' NFL draft prospect Javion Cohen fights mental health stigma
