Former Seahawks Lineman Breaks Silence on His Darkest Period
Robert Gallery’s time with the Seattle Seahawks was brief — just one injury-marred season in 2011 — but the experience would later become a reference point for how far the former No. 2 overall pick fell, and how far he’s since come back.
A new feature in The Athletic by Dan Pompei reveals the staggering depth of Gallery’s post-football struggles: suicidal thoughts, heavy drinking, fits of rage and confusion, and a desperate search for identity once his body and career finally gave out.
Robert Gallery: From Iowa Star to NFL Cautionary Tale
Gallery was once considered the safest pick in the 2004 NFL Draft. A decorated All-American at Iowa, he won the Outland Trophy as the nation’s top lineman and was widely projected to anchor an offensive line for more than a decade. The Oakland Raiders selected him second overall, expecting a future Pro Bowler.
Instead, Gallery endured constant change and chaos — five head coaches in seven seasons, multiple position switches, and a revolving door of quarterbacks. His move to left guard under Tom Cable finally stabilized his play, but injuries piled up.
When Cable joined Pete Carroll’s Seahawks in 2011, Gallery followed him to Seattle, hopeful for a fresh start. He joined a locker room featuring Marshawn Lynch and a rising defensive core that would soon form the Legion of Boom. For the first time, Gallery later said, he saw an organization doing things “the right way.”
But his body was failing him. He tore his MCL in the preseason, played through a torn abdominal muscle, and needed surgery at season’s end. The Seahawks released him after just one year. He briefly signed with New England before realizing he couldn’t go on.
“I had nothing left,” Gallery told The Athletic. “It was over.”
A Descent Into Darkness
Retirement was not peace — it was torment. Gallery told The Athletic that he suffered intense ringing in his ears, foggy memory, and unexplained anger. At his lowest, he drove his motorcycle 90 miles per hour through mountain curves near Lake Tahoe and admitted thinking about stepping in front of a semi-truck.
“I just wanted the noise to stop,” he told The Athletic.
Alcohol became a crutch. He’d drink tequila until he couldn’t feel. He lashed out at home, yelling at his wife, Becca, and their children, then retreating into guilt and isolation. Old teammates reached out, but for nearly a decade he ignored them.
“I felt like the worst scum on the face of the earth,” Gallery said to The Athletic. “You want to hurt someone you love — that messes with you even more.”
Asking for Help
The turning point came during a workout with Becca when he broke down and told her the truth: he was suicidal. Encouraged by her and longtime friend James Hetfield of Metallica, Gallery sought help through veteran mental-health networks.
He eventually connected with former Navy SEAL Marcus Capone, whose organization VETS Foundation helps veterans seek alternative treatments for trauma. Gallery underwent psychedelic therapy in Mexico using Ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT — treatments illegal in the U.S. but showing promise in addressing brain injury and PTSD.
After years of depression and cognitive fog, Gallery described waking up from the session clear-headed, hearing the waves of the Pacific and feeling peace for the first time in years. “I’m back,” he told friends afterward.
Healing and a New Mission
Now 45, Gallery still lives near Lake Tahoe and follows a strict daily routine — cold plunges at 4 a.m., meditation, workouts with Becca, and hyperbaric-chamber recovery. He says he hasn’t had a drink in four years and no longer experiences suicidal thoughts.
His new focus is helping others. He founded Athletes for Care, a nonprofit supporting retired players struggling with mental health and exploring responsible psychedelic therapy. Several former NFL and college teammates have since followed him to treatment.
For Gallery, that purpose — and the stability of family — has replaced the roar of the Coliseum or CenturyLink Field. He still thinks about the career that could’ve been, but he’s finally found something football couldn’t give him: quiet.
“I’m not healed,” he told The Athletic. “I have brain damage, but I’m light-years ahead of where I was.”
Patrick Mahomes Shares Scary Thought About Chiefs Offense After Week 8
After the Kansas City Chiefs routed the Washington Commanders on Monday Night Football, quarterback Patrick Mahomes shared a simple thought about the current KC offense entering Week 9, and it should terrify the rest of the NFL.
While talking about bouncing back from penalties to finish drives and consistently put points on the board, Mahomes revealed the following.
“It speaks to the mindset [that] this team has,” the Chiefs QB said during his Week 8 postgame press conference. “That’s kind of the mindset that I had early in my career — that the penalties weren’t going to affect us, we were going to go out there and score no matter what.”
As a reminder, earlier in his career, Mahomes led one of the most prolific offenses in the NFL year after year, including two 5,000-yard passing seasons and one campaign with 50 passing touchdowns in 2018.
Mahomes is not quite on that sort of pace in 2025, but he has only just gotten his full complement of playmakers back, with star wide receiver Rashee Rice returning in Week 7. Needless to say, if he and this current KC offense can mirror 2018 down the stretch, that’s a scary thought for the rest of the league.
Chiefs Offense Turns It Up a Notch in the Second Half in Week 8 as Patrick Mahomes & Co. Match Commanders’ Energy
After the game, Mahomes admitted that he felt the Chiefs’ offense didn’t match the Commanders’ energy in the first half of the Week 8 Monday Night Football outing. That’s fair, considering it was a 7-7 scoreline entering the break.
From there, Kansas City promptly closed the game out with 21 unanswered points and three Mahomes passing touchdowns.
“When we got in the locker room [at halftime], we just talked about executing, you know?” Mahomes told reporters. “Sometimes you want to press and make stuff happen, especially in a big game like Monday Night Football… They had more energy than we did; their defense versus our offense, and so we had to match their energy and execute at a higher level. And we were able to do that in the second half. It started off with that first drive, and then we kind of continued that momentum through the rest of the second half.”
The Chiefs’ offense really displayed its true potential in quarters three and four, facing the Commanders.
Whether it was Travis Kelce getting loose in the secondary, Rice gashing the opposition, Isiah Pacheco hammering the defensive front, Kareem Hunt leaking out in the passing game, or Xavier Worthy bringing his speed element, KC was firing on all cylinders.
And they didn’t even utilize a couple of early-season playmakers like Hollywood Brown and Tyquan Thornton all that much.
This Chiefs offense is more diverse and more dynamic than it has been in a long time, and more than anything else, that speaks volumes. Mahomes sees it, and soon the rest of the NFL will, too.
Chiefs’ Offensive Leaders in Week 8
GettyKansas City Chiefs veteran playmakers Kareem Hunt (left) and Travis Kelce (right) celebrate a touchdown in Week 8.
Kelce led the way in receiving yards in Week 8, finishing just 1 yard shy of 100 (6 for 99). He also caught a historic touchdown to add to his Hall of Fame career.
After a somewhat slow start in the first half, Rice nearly matched Kelce in yardage by the end of the game, with 93 receiving yards off 9 catches. Rice also notched another TD.
Worthy was next with 5 catches for 53 yards, and veteran JuJu Smith-Schuster got on the board with 2 receptions for 29 yards, as did backup tight end Noah Gray (2 for 23).
Finally, Pacheco rushed for 58 yards on 12 carries, while Hunt added 40 rushing yards on 9 carries. Hunt finished with 2 touchdowns in this outing, 1 rushing and 1 receiving, and Mahomes finished with 299 passing yards and 3 touchdowns despite 2 early interceptions.
The Chiefs’ next matchup is a big one, as Kansas City will head to northern New York to face the AFC rival Buffalo Bills in enemy territory.
