Report: Richard Sherman had been battling personal issues ‘for a few months’ before arrest

NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport says friends have been visiting him to try and help

Richard Sherman is currently awaiting the outcome of his first court hearing on Thursday afternoon following his suspicion of felony burglary domestic violence at his in-laws’ home in Richmond, Washington.

Meanwhile, NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport has reported that the cornerback had been “battling personal issues” for months. Appearing on NFL Network’s Total Access, Rapoport wrapped his reporting on Wednesday’s story with this:

“There was a somewhat disturbing 911 call where Richard Sherman and his wife allude to some of the personal troubles that he’s currently going through. My understanding is his close friends have been well aware of this, and actually visited Sherman’s house on a couple different occasions this offseason to try and intervene and help Richard Sherman deal with what he’s dealing with personally.”

Rapoport also tweeted the video with a caption stating several of Sherman’s friends had flown out to help.

As Niners Nation previously reported, the incident with Sherman occurred in the early hours of Wednesday morning when he crashed his SUV in a construction zone, tried to break into his in-laws’ house, and then fought with officers, who used a police dog to apprehend him. While the initial interaction with police was calm, Sherman reportedly walked away at an accelerated pace when he was told he was being arrested, which is when the K9 unit was deployed. Sherman then received minor lacerations to his lower leg as a result of the contact with the police dog, Lowe said.

Audio of a 911 call was later released in which a woman identifying herself as Ashley Sherman described him as being “drunk and belligerent” and said he was “threatening to kill himself.”

Sherman’s wife, Ashley Moss Sherman, has since told the Seattle Times newspaper that her husband: “didn’t harm anybody … He’s a good person, and this is not his character.”

It is expected that a judge will make a bail determination on Thursday afternoon, but Sherman is required to be at his initial court hearing, Washington’s News Tribune reported. Sherman has not yet been charged, and the King County prosecutor’s office will most likely make the charging decisions after the hearing.

This whole story is yet another example of how serious and indiscriminate mental health issues can be. Richard Sherman has a beautiful family. He has a degree from Stanford University. He is a no-doubt future first-ballot Hall of Fame football player. He could have any NFL analyst job on any network on television.

And none of that matters.

We all deal with mental health issues at times during our lives, no matter how great things might appear to everyone else.

For more on the Sherman situation, listen to today’s Niners Nation Gold Standard Podcast.

Finally, if you, or anyone you know, are dealing with these issues, please remember that you don’t have to go through it alone. Help is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week at the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (800-273-8255).