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Former Packers tight end Brandon Bostick talks mental health, 2014 NFC Championship game

Brandon Bostick's NFL journey started from humble beginnings. He talks one-on-one with TMJ4's Rod Burks.
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MILWAUKEE — I got a chance to sit down with former Green Bay Packers Tight End Brandon Bostick at the Bridgewater Restaurant in Milwaukee. It's been ten years since I've seen him, and nearly ten years since that botched on-side play in the 2014 NFC Championship Game.

Brandon's NFL journey started from humble beginnings. He grew up poor in a family of five, in Florence, South Carolina. He starred at Division 2 Newberry College. He wasn't drafted, but he got a chance to try out for the Green Bay Packers.

"I came in as a young guy willing to learn," Brandon says. "I kind of looked like Jermicheal, same speed and athleticism. So I had to learn from him and just earn the respect from everybody in the locker room."

But, his life as he knew it changed forever on January 18, 2015. The Packers were clinging to a 19-14 lead in the 2014 NFC Championship game against the Seahawks in Seattle.

With two minutes and nine seconds left in the game and a trip to the Super Bowl on the line, Brandon was supposed to block Chris Williams on the onside kick, so Jordy Nelson could catch the ball and the Packers could run out the clock. It didn't happen that way. I asked Brandon what was the huddle like before the play.

"It's something that I'll never forget, so I can tell you," Brandon explains. "The sideline was amped, it was pretty loud. It was a big moment, I can remember coach called time out because he didn't think we were ready, Coach Shawn Slocum. I remember standing there and we lined up for the play, I don't know what to say after that."

Brandon Bostick
Green Bay Packers tight end Brandon Bostick (86) talks on the sidelines before an NFL football game against the Miami Dolphins, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2014, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

The Seahawks recovered the football on that play and ended up winning the game in overtime.

"You're always taught to go to the high point of the ball," Brandon explains. "But this time I was supposed to block, and the rest is history."

Bostick was released from the Packers a few weeks after that play, and out of the league in 2016. He went and got help from a doctor, and he was diagnosed with major depression and social anxiety.

"I didn't know what depression was, it took me five years to get diagnosed," Brandon says. "I couldn't even get out of bed some days, so that's when I went to get my treatment at a facility."

Brandon sees a therapist weekly, but he's also helping others around the world with their mental health. He opened up his own clinic with a friend.

"I started Sage Elite Healing with my business partner Mark Van Steenberg," Brandon says. "Knowing that other people are struggling. When I retired, I struggled with my own identity. Just knowing that there are other players struggling with mental health... I think that play gave me a sense of purpose and gave me strength and courage to inspire other people."


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