Every sack by the Raiders’ Solomon Thomas means a little bit more

Hilarious. Great laugh. Animal lover. Loved harder than she could breath. A champion friend. Made beingness go.

There’s a watercolor coating successful Solomon Thomas’ Las Vegas location — a sunflower, each leafage dotted with a antithetic connection oregon phrase.

A household person made the coating with words from Thomas’ eulogy astatine his sister’s ceremonial successful 2018, utilizing her favourite angiosperm arsenic the template.

Ella Thomas, 24, died by termination connected Jan. 23, 2018. Her decease rocked the usually optimistic and energetic household arsenic Solomon Thomas navigated the opening of a vocation successful the NFL with the San Francisco 49ers.

This May, the Thomas household started The Defensive Line, a nonprofit that aims to trim stigma astir intelligence wellness and trim termination successful young people, particularly young radical of color.

“We’re truly trying to bash this right,” said Thomas, 26, present a antiaircraft tackle for the Raiders. “We’re trying to prevention people, we’re trying to amended people, and we’re trying to extremity the stigma against intelligence wellness truthful we tin proceed to marque large strides successful this world.”

Best friends

Contagious smile. Tough. Kind. Compassionate. Silly. Made you consciousness loved.

Solomon and Ella’s parents are Martha, a schoolteacher, and Chris, a recruiter and manager successful the user goods and products industry, whose enactment took the household astir the world.

The kids were calved successful Chicago, but the household spent clip surviving successful Australia, Connecticut and yet Coppell, Texas, a suburb northwest of Dallas.

Ella and Solomon were champion friends. Martha Thomas’ proudest feat arsenic a parent was her kids’ large relationship, she said.

Solomon was a shot superstar, increasing from the 3-pound babe calved respective weeks aboriginal to a nationally ranked precocious schoolhouse enlistee successful Texas. He picked Stanford University implicit offers from different large schools.

He astir chose the University of Arkansas, but not truly for its shot program. Ella was a pupil there.

The 6-3, 280-pound antiaircraft lineman earned All-Pac-12 honors and declared for the draught aft his sophomore season. The 49ers took him 3rd wide successful the 2017 NFL draft.

Healing arsenic a family

Honest. A acquisition to my life. Strong. Joy. Taught maine to beryllium myself. Peace.

Ella Thomas died aft Solomon’s rookie season. The household didn’t cognize overmuch astir termination astatine the time, unsure however to process feelings oregon question answers astir what had happened.

“There’s conscionable nary mode to picture watching radical endure similar that,” said Rei Horst, Solomon’s relative who present serves arsenic enforcement manager of The Defensive Line.

The astir brutal part, Martha said, was watching Solomon during games.

“I could spot however helium stood connected the sidelines,” she said. “He conscionable didn’t, helium didn’t — helium utilized to basal similar helium was acceptable to spell astatine immoderate second. And it was benignant of similar helium was astir lifeless.”

Solomon’s on-field show was slipping, but that was the slightest of the family’s worries. He was experiencing slump and anxiousness successful a mode he’d ne'er felt before.

“It each felt similar the aforesaid hurt, aforesaid sadness, aforesaid depression, aforesaid anger,” Solomon said. “It felt heavy. It felt similar the value of the satellite connected my shoulders astatine each times. Couldn’t spell to the market marketplace without idiosyncratic looking astatine me, judging maine for my performance, I couldn’t spell connected societal media without getting attacked and bullied by randoms each implicit the world.”

Martha could spot him struggling. She reached retired to 49ers wide manager John Lynch. He asked Solomon if helium needed assistance and fto him cognize that determination were resources disposable and radical acceptable to listen. It’s a speech that perchance saved Solomon’s life.

Solomon’s father, Chris Thomas, precocious texted Lynch and 49ers CEO Jed York with a elemental message: “Thank you for redeeming our son.”

The household started going to therapy unneurotic and dilatory started to heal. Part of that process was an improved knowing of suicide, and what they learned made them privation to springiness backmost successful the community.

Family members started speaking much openly astir Ella and their ain intelligence wellness journeys. Solomon routinely does interviews and speaks astir his family.

“It’s pugnacious being susceptible due to the fact that you’re putting your beingness retired there,” helium said. “I’m putting my feelings retired there, I’m putting my slump retired there, I’m putting my darkest days that I’ve ever had successful my beingness retired there. It’s conscionable hard. It’s conscionable a risk.”

He stops for a second.

“But it’s a hazard I’m consenting to take, due to the fact that I cognize radical retired determination are struggling similar me, oregon person struggled similar me. I cognize they request to perceive this truthful they cognize they’re not unsocial successful this combat and that there’s a airy successful the passageway they’re going through, that there’s a crushed to support pushing forward, that it’s good to consciousness however they’re feeling and they’re going to beryllium fine.”

Saying goodbye

A blessing. Hope. Beautiful. Perceptive. Loving. Always with you.

Solomon tore his ACL during the 2nd crippled of the 2020 season, and that was the past clip helium played for the squad that drafted him. He signed a one-year woody with the Raiders this year, and he’s emerged arsenic a cardinal portion of the antiaircraft enactment rotation.

He has 3.5 sacks connected the season, an important fig due to the fact that he’s pledged to donate $8,000 to The Defensive Line for each sack this season. That magnitude volition beryllium matched by different donor.

“What’s been unthinkable is however overmuch radical person demonstrated involvement and content successful this idea,” Horst said. “People truly privation to enactment together. It conscionable mostly feels similar there’s this camaraderie crossed the committee of radical who privation to rally astir this origin and beryllium successful it together.”

The nonprofit, which launched successful May, is moving with schoolhouse districts and groups successful Las Vegas and Dallas, the 2 places the household has large ties. In January and April, The Defensive Line volition connection a bid of grooming sessions for teachers successful the Clark County School District, with the extremity of educating teachers, coaches and different officials astir informing signs and ways to link with students successful need.

The Thomas household took Ella’s ashes to Australia, backmost to Pebbly Beach, astir 4 hours southbound of Sydney, wherever they’d gone camping erstwhile they lived there.

They timed it truthful they could spot her ashes connected the soil erstwhile the tide was out. No 1 other astir but the 3 of them, praying, crying and telling stories.

Usually, the formation was dotted with kangaroos adjacent the bushes distant from the water.

“I’m truthful atrocious the kangaroos aren’t around,” Martha said to Solomon.

Finally, the tide came successful and washed the ashes retired to the sea. The 3 of them turned astir to spot astir 50 kangaroos hopping down toward the water.

“It’s similar she had gone done the bush and said, ‘You can’t fto them conscionable beryllium present and cry,’” Martha said, her dependable breaking.

“An unthinkable moment,” Solomon said.

Contact Jonah Dylan astatine jdylan@reviewjournal.com. Follow @TheJonahDylan connected Twitter.