You don’t have to surrender to the darkness. Solomon Thomas refused to live the rest of his life in hell, and today he feels liberated by the forever thought that his big sister Ella would be so proud that he is able to see the light again, ready to fulfill the promise that made him the third-overall pick by the 49ers in the 2017 draft. 

“I feel free,” the Jets defensive tackle told The Post. “I feel very able to focus on myself and dedicate myself in the field. I do feel like my best football’s ahead of me. I feel like I’ve grown a lot in my career. Learning from the greats I’ve been around like Arik Armstead, DeForest Buckner, Gerald McCoy, Nick Bosa, Maxx Crosby. I know I’m in the second half of my career, but I feel like I’m really just starting because I’m here now, I’m present, I’m ready to go. I know the impact I can make on a team. I know how good I could be. 

“I’m mainly here to chase a Super Bowl and to get a ring. But I’m also here ’cause I know the potential I have and how great of a football player I can be, and I believe that’s still ahead of me. 

“I believe every day that I can be an All-Pro player. I believe I can be a Pro Bowl player.” 

Thomas has come a long, long way from the depths of personal despair, from an unimaginable, unforgiving pain in his heart and an unrelenting depression in a world turned upside down and on the precipice following Ella’s suicide on Jan. 23, 2018, at age 24. 

“She just had this big heart,” Thomas said. “She loved everyone. She loved people who she just met, people who did her wrong. If you were in a room with Ella with 100 people, but she was talking to you, it felt like you were the only two people in the room ’cause she gave you that kind of attention. … This world that makes us feel crazy, and this world that makes us feel that we’re not validated. She made us feel like we’re OK. One thing she didn’t do as well was give herself that same love.” 

A letter from Rhode Island arrived a couple of days ago at his locker, and it meant everything to Thomas. 

“A mom sent me a letter,” he said. “Her son is struggling, and she told me thank you. She had her son watch a video I did on ESPN and how much of an impact it made on his life. He struggles with chronic anxiety, chronic depression, and it helped him go on. Those are the times where I sit back and like, ‘OK, Keep going Solly.’ People need this.’ ” 

Thomas’ own nightmare compelled him 14 months ago to launch the Defensive Line Foundation to end the epidemic of youth suicide. Now, he tries to help others overcome their demons — before it is too late — through education and school partnerships, with businesses and sports programs, and finding the necessary resources. 

“Mental health and suicide is such a huge problem in our world right now,” Thomas said. “And COVID and isolation have only made it worse. But before that still, the ages 25-40 for men, suicide is one of the leading causes of death. It’s scary.” 

He knows. Oh, how he knows. 

“Living as a black man as well as playing football — this barbaric, colosseum sport … feel like I had to be the wrong definition of strong. 

“We tell men to be strong, just to tough through everything … It was easy to go through my day-to-day and not talk. … It was hard to accept the fact that I needed help and I needed to go to therapy. It was hard to tell people the dark place I was in and how sad I was and how mad I was and how angry I was.” 

Thomas works with a Jets mindfulness coach. He goes weekly for therapy. On Sundays, he will be the best he has ever been. 

“We’re gonna show people how great this defense can be,” he said. 

Thomas plays again for Robert Saleh, his old 49ers defensive coordinator. And always for Ella.