Everything Is Falling Into Place for Willie Gay Jr.
The Kansas City Chiefs — and NFL teams in general — have so much happening on the field that it's easy to forget whatever may be happening off the field. Linebacker Willie Gay Jr. is a perfect example of that, as he tweeted about his mental health struggles amidst injury and other contexts in October of last year.
Following his tweet, Gay received an outpouring of support from family, friends, teammates and fans alike. He was in a better place mentally to close out the season mentally, and it showed on the field. The then second-year linebacker was striking a terrific balance between being proactive and reactive, flashing the potential Kansas City banked on when the franchise selected him in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft. Gay is parlaying that improved mental health into an improved state of mind heading into this season as well, and he credits it to his relationship with God.
“Getting closer to God," Gay said of his mental strategies involved in helping himself. "I know you guys probably saw I got baptized – I was baptized when I was younger – but just knowing where my foundation is and knowing where my real problems were. Like I said, when I handled that situation – still not perfect of course – but when I handled that and told Him ‘I just want to live right,’ everything else kind of fell into place and (is) still falling into place.”
Everything is falling into place for the Chiefs' defense, too. The new-look unit lost veteran contributors such as linebacker Anthony Hitchens and safety Tyrann Mathieu this offseason and in their places, general manager Brett Veach is relying on youth and athleticism to fill those voids. Gay brings both of those, boasting an elite athletic profile and serving as the veteran in the room despite still being just 24 years old.
This year, Gay will join forces with sophomore linebacker Nick Bolton, as well as others such as rookie Leo Chenal, to fly around the field and fix some of the issues Steve Spagnuolo's defense had a season ago. That task is much easier said than done, but Gay can see the improvement after a long offseason filled with learning and subsequent adjustments.
“Just constant growth each and every week," Gay said. "Each and every day, again, you see the young guys add on and come in. They know the defense well; we didn’t have to slow it down for them or anything. So, to see that and to get those guys adding on to the defense on the back end, defensive ends, linebackers, they added on a great piece to this whole defense.”
The Chiefs' final preseason game, a Thursday evening contest at home, is against the Green Bay Packers. Many roster cuts will come between the end of the game and the days following it, as clubs have until Tuesday at 4 p.m. EST to trim their rosters down to the final 53 that they will head into the regular season with. Gay's spot is firmly entrenched, and he's made it a point to remind others of just how fortunate they are to be competing on an NFL team. When he isn't doing that, Gay is preparing for Week 1 and another shot at a possible playoff run that the Chiefs hope will run through Kansas City and Arrowhead Stadium. Everything, again, is falling into place.
“Well I just treat it like, I tell myself mentally ‘okay, you’re preparing for the season’ even though it’s preseason still," Gay said. "Eventually you’re going to get into Week 1 of the regular season and everything you did from the first week of training camp on, it adds something every week. I try to add something every week to my game that will help me get ready for Week 1, whether it’s playing in a preseason game or practice and I just build off of that.”
