The Vulnerable Game: Reimagining Black Masculinity Through the Discourse of Mental Health and Black Male Vulnerability

Jackson’s Public Expressions of Black Male Vulnerability

Established in 2018, Lamar Jackson’s non-profit organization, Forever Dreamer Foundation, has played a pivotal role in progressive discourses surrounding mental health and sports, particularly in raising awareness among the youth in Florida. The mission and purpose of the foundation are to “change the narrative” surrounding mental health and amplify the notion that “it’s okay not to be okay,” phrases that serve as the theme of the foundation’s annual “Black Tie and Sneaker” Gala (Foreverdreamers.org, 2018). Phrases embedded throughout the website, such as “a beacon of hope in our communities” and the foundation’s motto, “Never Stop Dreaming,” serve as a rhetorical appeal to the communities the foundation serves, encouraging them to address mental health. Jackson’s foundation also hosts annual communal events, including a Toy Drive (Foreverdreamers.org, 2018) and “Fun Day with LJ” in Pompano, Florida, to engage youth in discussions about resilience and mental well-being (Zrebiec, 2014). Jackson’s advocacy and his foundation’s approach situate mental health within a framework of communal engagement and empowerment, providing discursive resources that I will analyze later to demonstrate how such activities actively reshape Black masculinity in the context of mental health and sport.

Lamar Jackson’s proclivity to express his struggles with mental health exemplifies Black male vulnerability by rhetorically dismantling ostensibly fixed expectations of masculine athletic identity, thereby redefining normative conceptions of masculinity at the nexus of Black masculinity and sports. As a two-time MVP, Jackson’s rhetoric carries significant cultural weight in terms of shifting prevailing narratives surrounding the stigma of mental health in sports, specifically for Black men. Lamar’s articulation of his vulnerability functions as a form of rhetorical resistance to hypermasculine scripts that typically view vulnerability as contradictory to the normative principles of masculine athletic identity.

In an interview, Jackson says, “mental health is important to me because…it’s so many…obstacles and distractions in the world that’ll keep you…down, but it’ll overwhelm you, you know, especially when you’re young, and you don’t really have no one to go to” (Lamar Jackson Entertainment Inc., 2023). Here, Jackson’s rhetoric promotes a progressive masculine athletic identity by acknowledging the effects of mental health. Such rhetorical acknowledgment is significant because it promotes an idea of masculinity that recognizes psychological struggle as a shared and legitimate human experience. Additionally, his rhetoric actively disrupts normative conceptions of masculinity in football, where expressions of vulnerability are seen as antithetical to White hegemonic ideals of masculine identity that privilege emotional restraint and stoicism (Connell, 1995; Dickerson, 2016). By engaging in a rhetoric of Black male vulnerability, Jackson demonstrates the possibilities for Black men’s athletic success.

Park (2015) reminds us that race complicates normative conceptions of masculinity, generating a dialectical tension between authentic and spurious manhood. Such inclinations, for Park (2015), are commonly rooted in the white imagination of gender norms that hinder many Black men in the NFL from expressing adversarial discourses. Black men athletes are already faced with heightened levels of pressure to conform to white masculine ideals or risk being ostracized from the sports community (Leonard, 2017; Oates, 2020). As noted above, the processes of racial containment make evident the adverse framing of Black men’s athletic expressive culture, mainly when such expressions depart from White hegemonic ideals of acceptable masculine norms (Cramer & Donofrio, 2021). To be clear, this is how ideations of Black men as a thug, gangsta’, or effeminate discursively function to police Black men’s bodies (Boyd, 2003; Jackson, 2006; Leonard, 2012). Therefore, speaking out about a topic such as mental health can lead to adverse consequences regarding one’s athletic competence and masculine authenticity.

Jackson further challenges hypermasculine scripts by concluding, “there’s a lot of obstacles and stuff I go through and people may not know because I never speak about it because I’m a man, but it’s okay not to be okay” (Lamar Jackson Entertainment Inc., 2023). Rather than adhere to ideations that suggest that “being a man” means being silent about mental health struggles, Jackson’s public disclosure challenges normative conceptions of masculine athletic identity. As Dickerson (2016) writes, “male bodies that play through the pain are performing a celebrated form of masculinity, while male bodies that refuse to put their bodies on the line risk…being labeled feminine or homosexual” (p. 311). Jackson’s outspokenness about mental health underscores a rhetorical violation of stoicism in sports, instead demonstrating vulnerability as a vital constituent of personal growth and success. In doing so, Jackson’s rhetoric aligns with broader conceptions of Black male vulnerability. Whiteneir Jr. (2019) infers that when Black men express their vulnerability, they dislocate overriding inscriptions that assume they are emotionally impermeable. His visibility as an accomplished Black man in the NFL exemplifies the transformative power of his rhetoric in shifting perceptions about mental health.

Skeptics may argue that Jackson’s articulation of vulnerability, though sincere, is part of a larger trend in the NFL’s marketing strategy, particularly given the recent heightened controversy surrounding CTE (Heo, 2020; Ventresca, 2019). Therefore, tackling a public health issue, such as mental health, is warranted as it is part of the NFL’s public display and advocacy for player safety. To be clear, the NFL aims to expand its audience to increase revenue. Connecting with fans through its most marketable athletes on topics such as mental health could be a strategic way to enhance its image as an organization that genuinely cares about its players’ well-being. While questioning the authenticity of Jackson’s mental health advocacy can be observed as reasonable, however, such cynicism dismisses the potential impact of Jackson’s message to his followers.

Individual athletes like Jackson engage with mental health rhetoric in ways that differ from the organization’s generalized and strategic messaging. This is primarily because Jackson’s messages are grounded in his lived experiences. Jackson’s rhetoric is personal, experiential, and culturally situated, especially in his direct engagement with youth and community audiences. This distinction underscores the persuasive force of player-driven discourse, which gains its credibility through vulnerability, embodiment, and identification. Rather than merely reiterating the NFL’s messaging, Jackson reconfigures it, suggesting a more embodied and culturally resonant articulation of mental health that challenges prevailing constructions of Black masculinity in sport. This distinction draws attention to the significance of rhetorically analyzing athletes’ discourse not merely as a derivative of institutional rhetoric, but as a generative site where dominant ideologies are destabilized through personal and cultural experience.

In short, Jackson’s rhetoric forges a pathway toward a disruptive form of Black masculinity through a rhetoric of Black male vulnerability, one that powerfully combats normative conceptions of masculinity and embraces the importance of mental health as a constitutive component of athletic identity and manhood. While Jackson’s openness about mental health carves space for other professional athletes to join in on the ongoing dialogue, perhaps no one in football has been more forthcoming about their internal battles with mental health than Dak Prescott.

Dak Prescott’s Reframing of Mental Health

After the death of his mother due to colon cancer in 2013 and the subsequent suicide of his brother Jace’s in 2020, Prescott created his “Faith Fight Finish” Foundation, organized around four core pillars: Colon Cancer Research, Mental Health and Suicide Prevention, Law Enforcement and Communities, and Life-challenging Hardships Assistance (faithfightfinish.org, 2023; Doney, 2020). The “Faith Fight Finish” Foundation collaborated with “Stand Up to Cancer” (another cancer research organization) to launch the “Peggy Prescott Early Career Scientist Award in Colorectal Cancer Research” in honor of his late mother (faithfightfinish.org, 2023).

Concerning mental health advocacy, Prescott has partnered with other non-profits, such as the Kevin Love Fund (named after NBA player Kevin Love) and The Defensive Line, created by NFL defensive lineman Solomon Thomas, to provide workshops for educators and the youth about the importance of prioritizing mental well-being (faithfightfinish.org, 2023). The rhetorical messaging on the website, for example, “invest[ing] in a better future by empowering…[others] to find strength through adversity,” illuminates Prescott’s commitment to advancing conversations regarding mental health (faithfightfinish.org, 2023). Prescott’s rhetorical integration of personal tragedies, a mental health advocacy foundation, and inter-organizational partnerships lays a critical foundation for analyzing how his rhetoric reimagines Black masculinity at the intersection of mental health and sport. Through the lens of Black male vulnerability, this transaction will be further explored in the subsequent analysis.

Dak Prescott reframes the conversation surrounding mental health by emphasizing authenticity, transparency, and emotional connection. Such rhetorical maneuvering challenges athletic stoicism and illuminates the coexistence of vulnerability and Black masculinity. The culture of football has historically encouraged athletes (particularly racialized athletes) to prioritize stoicism over vulnerability (Rugg, 2019). According to Lever (2023), “Sport naturally amplifies values associated with hegemonic masculinity” (p. 683). Prescott counters this ideology by articulating his challenges with managing anxiety and depression, underscoring the importance of emotional intelligence and genuineness as vital components of a progressive form of masculinity.

In a news conference, Prescott tells reporters, “Before I even lead, I have to make sure my mind is in the right place to do that and lead people to where they want to be” (Brito, 2020, para. 11). This sentiment challenges normative conceptions of masculine athletic stoicism, which typically reject vulnerability as a constitutive component of manhood. Instead of dismissing his vulnerability, Prescott demonstrates that emotional intelligence and the capacity to be cognizant of internal struggles with mental health are vital. Black men, like others, express their vulnerability by conveying the importance of emotional dependency and connection (Hopson & Pitts, 2024; Smith, 2023; Stamps, 2021). Prescott’s emphasis on authenticity, transparency, and intimacy aligns with broader conceptions of Black male vulnerability, an often-overlooked aspect of conversations about Black masculinity in sports and beyond.

By revealing his vulnerability, Prescott’s rhetoric draws on the principles of Black male vulnerability, a critical intervention that advocates for Black men and boys to engage in alternative tactics to, in this case, manage mental health. Such discourse combats racialized expectations, given that racial constraints placed on Black professional football players render them emotionally inaccessible, making vulnerability illegible (Leonard, 2017; Oates, 2020). Li (2026) notes that by “infusing authenticity into their narratives” (p. 3), athletes can challenge and transcend the confines of pathological identity ascriptions, leveraging “their symbolic status to garner public recognition …[of their] humanity, authenticity, and sociocultural heritage” (p. 18). Therefore, Prescott’s rhetorical resistance illustrates this process by using his platform as a Black man in the NFL to reframe vulnerability as an act of courage, thereby reimaging Black masculinity, where emotional intelligence and self-reflection are constitutive. This is significant in that his discourse actively resists racial containment despite hyper-surveillance and the threat of public scrutiny, discursive mechanisms that seek to control Black professional athletes’ emotional behaviors (Carrington, 2010). Moreover, Prescott’s rhetoric functions in a parasocial framework, facilitating a symbolic exchange that invites audiences, particularly Black men and boys, into a dialogue about vulnerability and mental health. Through this rhetoric, Prescott erodes archaic conceptions of athletic masculinity and normalizes emotional vulnerability as an essential component of masculinity more generally within the process.

Given the historical social constructions of masculinity, particularly in sports, one might argue that Prescott’s expression of vulnerability, though laudable, lacks the transformative potential to challenge traditional masculine performance. This point is noteworthy given that Prescott’s personal tragedy, his mother’s death, and his brother’s suicide could effortlessly be perceived in isolation. However, such a perspective undermines the rhetorical power of Black male vulnerability as a crucial intervention in current perceptions of Black masculinities within sports. Said differently, Prescott exemplifies what Rudrow (2020) and Smith (2023) term as “disruptive Black masculinities” or expressions of Black men’s identity that defy predetermined scripts and exhibit pragmatic agency.

Reminiscent of Jackson, Prescott’s public disclosures also emerge within a broader context of the NFL’s expanding mental health initiatives. Conversely, Prescott’s rhetoric is uniquely inflected by its rootedness in personal bereavement and emotional transparency, presenting a more intimate and relational articulation of mental health that extends beyond the general framing of the NFL. Expanding on the intersection of Black masculinity, mental health rhetoric, and sports, Mundy reimagines mental health through culturally grounded praxes, emphasizing communal care as a key element in the progressive understanding of Black masculinity in sports and social life.

Ryan Mundy and Alkeme Health

Following his transition from professional athlete to entrepreneur, Mundy created Alkeme Health, inspired by Paulo Coelho’s novel “The Alchemist,” which emphasizes that life is not about the destination but the journey (Rooted in Radiance, 2025). Rather than offering a generic appeal to “awareness,” Mundy’s Alkeme Health platform aims to destigmatize mental health in Black communities by offering culturally relevant practices, including guided meditations, live therapy discussions, and educational modules. Mundy conceived of this entrepreneurial venture after experiencing personal struggles with anxiety and witnessing family members deal with multiple health obstacles.

Mundy notes that “he is striving for Alkeme to become a universal health and wellness provider for the Black community” (Perrotto, 2023, para. 14). He further adds that Alkeme Health will bring the best mental health practitioners together through given that there is, according to Mundy, a “lack of spaces designed to help us (Black communities) actually care for our mental health and wellness, financial cost, provider shortage and other barriers prevent our community from getting what they need” (Dorisca, 2022, para. 5). Mundy continues, “We are building Alkeme to support the community in an accessible, authentic, and engaging way in an effort to create generational health” (Dorisca, 2022, para. 5). In this way, Mundy’s Alkeme Health seeks to address the health disparities among Black communities by addressing the stigma, mistrust, representation, affordability, and perceptions related to mental health. Lastly, Mundy foresees Alkeme Health as a catalyst for more impactful changes in mental health within Black communities, helping break down generational trauma and address cultural challenges.

Ryan Mundy strategically conveys a rhetorical intervention into traditional notions of masculinity by leveraging his public disclosures of vulnerability and founding Alkeme Health. This mental health platform advances culturally competent discourses for Black communities that can positively impact Black men and boys more broadly. Football has historically compelled men and boys to subscribe to hypermasculine paradigms. Mundy’s rhetoric, despite being a former professional athlete, actively disrupts such paradigmatic scripts by openly revealing his vulnerability to mental health. His creation of Alkeme Health authorizes the deconstruction of symbolic barriers to mental health for Black communities, illuminating an ideological rupture in mental health rhetoric that recognizes vulnerability as essential.

In an interview addressing the creation of Alkeme Health, Mundy shares that after eight years in the NFL, he reached a personal breaking point as he struggled to redefine his sense of self beyond the sport (CBS Chicago, 2023). He explained that this period was marked by anxiety, depression, and ongoing identity issues, which were compounded by the challenge of no longer being known primarily as an athlete (CBS Chicago, 2023). When he sought professional support, Mundy found accessing a therapist to be exceptionally difficult. (CBS Chicago, 2023). Here, Mundy’s reflections acknowledge the fallacy that equates athletic success with mental health stability, rhetorically combating traditional masculine ideations that suggest outward athletic achievement should be prioritized over psychological and emotional well-being. Such rhetorical disruption underscores the significance of Black male vulnerability as a form of rhetorical resistance within sports discourse, given that sport culture tends to privilege White hegemonic masculinity (Messner, 2013; Trujillo, 1995). For Black professional football players, the pressure to conform to White hegemonic ideals of masculinity is intensified, given that sport also functions as a primary site where racial meanings are produced, reproduced, and contested (Carrington, 2010).

Mundy’s discourse also functions within the broader system of surveillance and racial containment, given that his expressions are a visible display of vulnerability that invites public scrutiny. Dixon (2008) demonstrates that media representations of Black men are frequently associated with aggression and deviance, narrowing down acceptable identity performances for Black men. In this way, Mundy’s candidness about his awareness and experiences with mental health constitutes a profound rhetorical disruption to masculine expectations in football, offering an alternative mode of Black masculinity that is less restrictive. This phenomenon is important given that many Black men perceive emotional expression as effeminate consequently creating a barrier to seeking support for mental health (Watkins et al., 2020).

Studies have noted the consistency of implicit bias towards minorities, which intensifies health disparities among marginalized communities, particularly men (Carter & Davila, 2017; Lee et al., 2020). Rather than tolerate the proliferation of health disparities, Mundy provides a culturally competent health service that affords his followers an institute where they can pursue support without fretting about the stigma that plagues many marginalized communities from seeking mental health assistance. As Gorczynski et al. (2021) explain, “…addressing mental health…in athletes requires careful attention devoted to…their cultural and environmental contexts, given disparities in mental health between individuals of various identities in different cultures, times, and environments” (p. 391). They go on suggest “any mental health literacy intervention needs to demonstrate cultural competence” (Gorczynski et al., 2021, p. 397). Alkeme Health reflects this belief by emphasizing Black communities rather than generic mental health literacy interventions that do not account for their specific cultural sensibilities. Mundy’s approach to mental health not only reimagines Black masculinity to privilege internal reflection combined with external accomplishments but also extends Jackson and Prescott’s work by illuminating the communal and cultural nature of positive mental well-being.

As several scholars have noted, Black male vulnerability has been marginalized in both public discourse and institutional contexts, restricting the imaginations and possibilities for Black masculinities (Curry, 2017, 2021; Rudrow, 2020; Smith, 2025). Mundy’s platform counters this marginalization by legitimizing Black male vulnerability and fostering spaces, such as Alkeme Health, where vulnerability is openly encouraged within a Black-specific cultural health context. This is especially important given that Black athletes are often portrayed by sports media as either saviors of Black communities or selfish for centering their realities. Mocarski and Billings (2014) highlight such phenomena in their analysis of LeBron James as a co-constructed public figure rhetorically positioned through a ‘Messiah’ narrative that attached collective hope, responsibility, and moral burden to his public image as a Black athlete. More recently, Cramer and Donofrio (2026) note that sports media such as, Last Chance U: Basketball, routinely frame Black masculinity through redemptive arcs that positions athletic success as personal achievement while simultaneously placing unfair burdens on Black men to be saviors of their communities in the face of structural inequities. Such perpetuated storylines places unrealistic expectations on Black men in sports. In this case, Mundy’s rhetoric resists this binary, rejecting the isolated self while simultaneously evading the redemptive trope of the Black athlete as communal savior. Through Alkeme Health, mental health is observed as a communal cultural practice rooted in collectivism rather than exceptionalism.

Moreover, Mundy’s rhetoric and the subsequent creation of Alkeme Health effectively reveal how the rhetoric of Black male vulnerability functions to counter racialized expectations within sports. By responding to the stigma of mental health, Mundy demonstrates how the act of disclosing his mental health struggles serves as a healthy refutation to the racial containment and surveillance that hovers over Black men in the NFL. Mundy’s rhetoric is not only a public disclosure but rather a structural intervention that reduces the expectation that absolute secrecy about struggles with mental health is vital to adhere to masculine scripts in sports. This approach centers mental health discourse as a crucial element to the rhetorical construction of Black masculinity in sports and beyond.

Mundy’s intervention is particularly critical given the NFL’s tendency to place blame on individual athletes’ style of play regarding injury and mental health. This is precisely what Rugg (2019) argues in his analysis of media coverage of James Harrison mentioned above. Rather than scrutinize the cultural conditions of professional football, sports media tends to embrace neoliberal logics that read emotional instability, injury, and violence as maladjustments of Black masculinity, removing any accountability from the NFL. The consequences of such framing for Black men are that while their bodies continue to be commodified by the institution, their identities in public life continue to be read as social deviants in need of frequent disciplining to maintain order. Given this context, the conception of Alkeme Health, along with Mundy’s rhetoric, reframes mental health as collective responsibility, resisting the NFL’s tendency to use individual player behavior as the primary source for any on-or-off the field problems or dilemmas.

Although Mundy’s advocacy for mental health is laudable, one may argue that the rhetorical power of athlete-driven advocacy for systemic change is limited. The conspicuousness of professional athletes establishes a critical distance between them and the experiences and material realities of the masses. In other words, structural barriers do exist in areas such as education, employment, and economics that prevent Black men and boys from positive health-seeking behaviors (Curry, 2017; Smith, 2025), potentially hindering the rhetorical influence that athletes can have. Moreover, while Alkeme Health seeks to address cultural competence in the mental health space, the diversity of Black communities may limit institutional effectiveness.

Despite these counterarguments, overlooking individualized efforts to ignite change risks devaluing micro-level actions that may spark macro-level cultural shifts, which are, in many ways, a prerequisite for societal transformation. While Mundy possesses a celebrated identity that most Black men and boys may never share, disregarding his message obfuscates the latent power of rhetoric to influence audiences, in this case, toward the destigmatization of mental health. The issue is not about equating Mundy’s experience with others; in fact, it is quite the opposite. Instead, the significance of Mundy’s articulation of Black male vulnerability lies in its provision to carve disruptive space for other Black men and boys who may otherwise suffer in silence due to the stigma of mental health in sport contexts.

While the NFL has increased its emphasis on mental health and player safety, Mundy’s creation of Alkeme Health constitutes a targeted, culturally situated intervention. In contrast to the NFL’s broad discourse, Mundy’s platform explicitly centers on the materialities of Black communities, exhibiting how athlete-driven initiatives function as sites of discursive interventions that can reframe mental health rhetoric through culturally embedded praxis. Mundy’s articulation of vulnerability and the establishment of Alkeme Health underscore the powerful link between personal advocacy and systemic change.