Cowboys' Jerry Jones 'devastated' by Marshawn Kneeland's death: 'We all are having to share the sorrow'

The Dallas Cowboys and the rest of the NFL are mourning the death of defensive end Marshawn Kneeland, who, according to authorities, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound last week. 

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said Tuesday he was "devastated" by Kneeland's death and expressed appreciation for NFL teams paying tribute to Kneeland by holding moments of silence before their games over the weekend.

"Devastated. Hard to believe the content that was on the other end of the phone. It was the middle of the night when we all got the news," Jones said on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas. "I do want to say publicly how much I appreciate the national recognition, I thought it was so fitting that they recognized the loss of Marshawn."

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Kneeland, 24, was in the middle of his second season with the Cowboys. 

"We all are having to share the sorrow," Jones said. "As a teammate, Marshawn touched everybody in many different ways. The very definition of team is we love each other, we rely on each other. That's the ethos of what a team is about."

Jones said it's been tough to wrap his mind around losing somebody so young so suddenly.

"I think we all have unfettered feelings about the people we love, people we work with, and this is just a time when you acknowledge that there's no answers," Jones said. "It makes you want to live life to the fullest. It makes you want to look for the very best in what we have for each other. And in some way make sense out of these times in terms of what they can mean from helping those that are here on Earth right now.

"All of those things are very natural, come to mind, but his death is such a national awareness thing that it takes on some of that light when we think about how we go forward ... Of course, the saddest thing for someone like me is the fact that he's only 24 years old. You think about all of the time that we're going to miss him and he's going to be missed by the people around him. He was just getting started."

Kneeland's death occurred during Dallas' bye week and the team held a virtual meeting following the news. Monday was the first time the Cowboys were together in person since. They are expected to have a normal practice week ahead of their Week 11 Monday night game against the Raiders in Las Vegas.

"From the standpoint of the team and going back to work, there's no doubt in my mind they will do so in memory of what he's all about," Jones said. "He was very unique in his zest for life, and he was very unique for his passion for the game."

Jones said the Cowboys will wear decals on their helmets for the rest of the season and t-shirts to honor Kneeland for at least the next two games. Their next home game will be against the Philadelphia Eagles on Nov. 23 and the team will have a moment of silence and other tributes to remember Kneeland.