It was an “extremely emotional” day for the Cowboys, who gathered Monday for the first time in person following last week’s tragic passing of Marshawn Kneeland, who died by suicide at the age of 24.

Helmed by first-year head coach Brian Schottenheimer, players were “given a safe place to let everyone know what’s going on inside” as the team moves forward together, according to the Cowboys’ website.

“Extremely proud of coach for how he conducted today, just bringing therapists in the building, bringing people who we needed in the building and just letting us be our true emotions. Giving us a safe place to let everyone know what’s going on inside,” defensive end Solomon Thomas said of the “extremely impactful, extremely emotional” meeting.

“I haven’t been around a program that’s done something like that before, and [it’s] a testament to [Schottenheimer] and his love for us because we needed that today. We needed a day just to be human and to cry and to let everyone know how we felt. Extremely draining and hard day, hard for everyone involved, hard for everyone who loved Marshawn. So it just meant a lot for [Schottenheimer] to conduct the day like that.”

Kneeland, a second-year defensive end out of Western Michigan, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after a pursuit by troopers, the Frisco Police Department confirmed.

“It is with extreme sadness that the Dallas Cowboys share that Marshawn Kneeland tragically passed away this morning. Marshawn was a beloved teammate and member of our organization. Our thoughts and prayers regarding Marshawn are with his girlfriend Catalina and his family,” the Cowboys said in a statement.

Kneeland’s passing came just days after a breakout NFL moment, in which he returned a blocked punt for a touchdown in a “Monday Night Football” loss to the Cardinals on Nov. 3.

Thomas, who joined the Cowboys in the offseason after three years with the Jets, explained that Kneeland’s death hit especially hard as he lost his sister to suicide in 2018.

“Hard for the feelings that are brought back up from my sister, but definitely have a responsibility to be here for my teammates to let them know that there’s help available, that there’s love out there, and that there’s a way to move through this together in a way of honoring Marshawn and honoring our own feelings at the same time,” he shared.

With the Cowboys returning to work following the bye week, Solomon and his teammates are navigating heavy emotions — “It’s just like, ‘How much does this really even matter right now when we’re feeling all this pain and this tragedy is going on?'” — while looking to keep Kneeland’s memory alive.

“One of our ways that we want to move forward with this is we want to honor Marshawn with how he played. He loved the game of football, he played extremely hard, he was always smiling on and off the field,” Thomas said.

“… We want to find a way to honor him, then we can do that on the field, but we can also do that just how we live every day life and take the lessons and the qualities we loved about him and apply them to our lives every day.”

In the wake of Kneeland’s death, the NFL asked teams to hold a moment of silence Sunday.

The Broncos, who hosted the Raiders on “Thursday Night Football” on the same day of Kneeland’s passing, paid tribute to the late defensive end before kickoff.

The Cowboys (3-5-1) visit the Raiders (2-7) next Monday night.

If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts or are experiencing a mental health crisis, you can call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org for free and confidential crisis counseling.