Willie Gay is not at Chiefs practice for personal reasons

The Kansas City Chiefs have been hoping to get linebacker Willie Gay Jr. back on the active roster for some time now, ever since the second-year linebacker was forced to sit out with a toe injury during the team’s final preseason game against the Minnesota Vikings. Now on the verge of a potential comeback in Week 5, his status remains up in the air not only health-wise but perhaps for other “personal reasons” as well.

Gay has missed the first four weeks of the season so far with the toe injury after he was placed on injured reserve to start the regular season. However this week, he’s been back at practice and looks ready to officially return from IR—that is until he sat out practice on Friday due to what Andy Reid said were “personal reasons.”

It’s no one’s business but the player himself and the team, perhaps, about what comprises those “personal reasons,” but Gay himself took to Twitter to at least offer a bit of perspective with the following statement.

Discussions about mental health in sporting circles have been more transparent and prevalent than ever, which is a healthy sign for public awareness and understanding of these very real hurdles for players (and all of us) but there’s still a long way to go toward better acknowledgement of mental health wellness and concerns on a mainstream level.

For now, it sounds as if no one is quite sure if Gay will suit up for the team’s game against the visiting Buffalo Bills in Week 5 at Arrowhead Stadium, but we certainly want to wish Gay the best in his battles both physical and mental.