Dimitrius Underwood

Dimitrius Paul Underwood (born March 29, 1977 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is a former professional American football defensive end in the National Football League for the Minnesota Vikings, Miami Dolphins, and Dallas Cowboys. Underwood also had a brief stint in the Canadian Football League's Ottawa Renegades in mid-2005.

College career
Underwood played college football at Michigan State and was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in the first round, with the 29th overall pick in the 1999 NFL Draft.

Pro career
After being drafted, he signed a five year, $5.3 million contract on August 1, 1999 but walked out of training camp the next day and never returned, saying he could not resolve the conflict between playing football and serving his Christian faith. The Vikings released him later that month. Underwood would later change his mind and decided to return to the NFL. He was claimed on waivers by the Miami Dolphins after 23 teams passed on him, but showed a lack of focus towards football. Multiple times during team meetings, Underwood was found not taking notes, but instead writing about the apocalypse. He only played one preseason game for the Dolphins before getting injured.

In September 1999, Underwood was arrested by police for failure to pay child support. Within 24 hours, he attempted to commit suicide by slashing his own neck with a cutlass before repeatedly yelling "I'm not worthy of God". According to his mother, an ordained minister, his behavior had been influenced by attending the Immanuel's Temple Community Church in Lansing, Michigan, which she describes as a "cult that's posing as a church." The church's pastor stated that neither he nor his wife had ever counseled Underwood and that no one in the church told Underwood to leave football.

Underwood's mother later retreated from her comments and issued her own statement: "We should both be on the same accord, rather than creating conflict caused by misrepresentation."

Underwood later spent two months in protective care and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. After he escaped from a psychiatric care facility, he was released from the Dolphins in December 1999. He later signed a two-year contract with the Dallas Cowboys. During the 2000-2001 seasons, Underwood had 21 tackles and four sacks in 19 games. In January 2001, he tried to kill himself for the second time by running into traffic twice on a busy suburban highway. The Cowboys released him later that month.

Underwood served stints in the Dallas County Jail for Aggravated Robbery, Assault on Public Servant, and Evading Arrest starting in 2002. Underwood spent his time locked down in a closed custody cell.

After four years out of football, Underwood resurfaced in the CFL with the Ottawa Renegades. However, he was cut during the preseason.

In 2007, Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports listed Underwood as one of the worst first-round picks since the AFL-NFL merger. According to the article, Underwood missed most of his senior year, and his coaches at Michigan State warned NFL scouts that he was not mentally stable enough to play in the NFL. In Robinson's view, by ignoring these warnings the Vikings made "arguably the dumbest pick ever made in the first round." In a September 28, 2010 article Yahoo Sports noted Underwood's mental health issues as a case in point where the NFL is falling short in helping players who suffer from various mental illnesses that are in no small part connected to the pressures of the job of an NFL athlete. The 2010 article also pointed out that "Underwood was tormented by visions of the apocalypse. He used to write notes discussing the end of the world on pieces of paper the size of postage stamps. When he was in a normal state, he could be engaging in conversation. He was funny and intelligent. He also exuded physical confidence and had extraordinary talent."