On October 11, 2020, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott suffered a gruesome ankle injury at AT&T Stadium. His foot twisted, bone visible beneath his sock. “I tried to plant my feet and put my foot back in place,” he later told The Ringer.
Nearby stood Logan Ryan, the New York Giants defender who made the tackle and who knew the pain firsthand from a similar injury. That night, Ryan sent Prescott two books: Kobe Bryant’s The Mamba Mentality: How I Play and Tim Grover’s Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable, with a single message: “What would Kobe do?”
- Kobe Bryant’s Mamba Mentality drives athletes like Dak Prescott and Saquon Barkley to face injuries with focus, discipline, and resilience.
- NFL players apply Bryant’s mindset of obsessive improvement and emotional strength to both their physical recovery and personal growth.
- Bryant’s legacy endures through his 2018 book The Mamba Mentality: How I Play, which continues to guide athletes toward excellence in sport and life.
The Creation of the Mamba Mentality
In April 2013, Kobe Bryant tore his Achilles tendon during a game against the Golden State Warriors. Refusing to quit, he made two free throws before walking off the court. Later, he called the injury “my personal Mount Everest.”
At 34 years old, Bryant underwent an intense recovery, returning to play three more seasons. On April 13, 2016, exactly three years and one day later, he ended his career with 60 points at the Staples Center.
His longtime trainer, Tim Grover, who also trained Michael Jordan, said, “The process and the mentality of what you do after you get injured can be either the best or the worst thing that’s ever happened to you.”
On January 26, 2020, Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, and seven others — John, Keri, and Alyssa Altobelli; Sarah and Payton Chester; Christina Mauser; and pilot Ara Zobayan — died in a helicopter crash near Los Angeles. Even after his death, his mindset remains a model for perseverance.
How NFL Players Live the Mamba Mentality
Bryant’s mindset did not stop with basketball. It carried over into other sports, motivating professional athletes to approach challenges with his same focus, discipline, and resilience. Several NFL players have lived out this philosophy through their own moments of adversity, showing that the Mamba Mentality is a universal approach to perseverance.
Saquon Barkley: “Kill Everything in the Way”
Saquon Barkley of the New York Giants writes “Mamba Mentality” at the top of every notebook. After tearing his ACL in 2020, Barkley deleted nearly all his Instagram posts except a tribute to Bryant. His surgery, performed by Dr. Neal ElAttrache in Los Angeles, was handled by the same doctor who repaired Bryant’s Achilles tendon.
While recovering, Barkley said, “When you have that mindset, the work ethic, the dedication, you could achieve anything in this world.” Confined to bed for six weeks, he spent his nights watching Bryant’s interviews, drawing strength from every word. When asked to describe his mentality, Barkley answered, “Kill everything in the way.”
Richard Sherman: The Lesson of Patience
When Richard Sherman tore his Achilles tendon near the end of the 2017 season, he refused assistance and walked off the field. “I saw him do it,” Sherman said during Super Bowl LIV’s media night, one day after Bryant’s death. “I saw him make two free throws and walk off with a torn Achilles. And once I tore mine, I knew I had to walk off.”
The next day, Bryant called and told him to stay strong. Sherman later cited Kobe’s advice from a 2019 Knuckleheads podcast, “Don’t look at the top of the mountain. Focus on one step at a time.”
Sherman followed that mindset in rehab, competing against himself each day to improve. In 2019, at age 31, he returned wearing Kobe-branded Nike cleats and earned second-team All-Pro honors.
Derek Carr: “Failure Is Not an Option”
Derek Carr, quarterback of the Las Vegas Raiders, broke his leg on December 24, 2016. Bryant tweeted to him, “Come back better than ever.”
Carr, a lifelong fan from Bakersfield, California, named his dog Kobe, kept a “Mamba Mentality” poster in his gym, and wore a sleeve to honor Bryant in 2020. He later said, “Kobe Bryant is the reason that I played when I broke the three bones in my back… and the reason I played with a broken finger. Failure is not an option.”
Logan Ryan: Discipline in Every Role
After his 2018 leg fracture, Logan Ryan restructured his days to fit in three workouts. He woke at 4 a.m. to train before spending time with his children. The next year, he became the third NFL player in the 21st century to record at least four interceptions, four sacks, and four forced fumbles in a single season.
In the 2019 playoffs, Ryan intercepted Tom Brady’s final pass as a New England Patriot and returned it for a touchdown, ending the team’s era with Brady. “That’s what the Mamba Mentality is about,” he said. “It’s how I wake up and am as a husband… attentive and alert and there for my wife and kids. It’s trying to be my best in every aspect.”
Dak Prescott: Recovery and Reflection
Following his October 2020 injury, Prescott faced both physical and personal challenges. His brother Jace had died by suicide in April 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Before his injury, Prescott had thrown for over 450 yards in three consecutive games and scored eight touchdowns from weeks 2–4. During rehab, he adopted Grover’s all-or-nothing philosophy, “The Mamba Mentality means to get on your dark side… Feed off that.”
He returned in September 2021, throwing for 403 yards and three touchdowns against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the reigning Super Bowl champions.
He also recalled a near meeting with Bryant at a Newport Beach steakhouse in January 2020. Out of respect, he declined an introduction, believing they would meet another time—his rental home was less than a mile from Bryant’s. A week later, the crash occurred. “Hey, this is a guy that we all can admire in the ways that he lived and the way that he played the game,” Prescott said. “I’m going to just do that as much as I can.”
The Black Mamba Persona and Its Origins
Bryant’s “Black Mamba” alter ego came from Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004). In the movie, a character finds a black mamba in a suitcase, and Daryl Hannah’s character calls the snake “death incarnate.” Bryant said, “This is a perfect description of how I would want my game to be.”
The persona appeared during a tumultuous time. In July 2003, Bryant was arrested and charged with felony sexual assault after a 19-year-old hotel employee in Edwards, Colorado, accused him of rape. He first denied any sexual contact, later saying it was consensual. The medical exam revealed a bruise on her jaw and vaginal lacerations. The charges were dropped in September 2004 when the woman declined to testify. In March 2005, Bryant and the woman settled a civil case with a nondisclosure agreement. Bryant stated, “I now understand how she feels that she did not consent to this encounter.”
He later said that adopting the Black Mamba identity helped him separate public perception from personal reality. “You have to enter every activity… with a want and need to do it to the best of your ability,” he wrote. “The mindset isn’t about seeking a result. It’s about the process… It’s a way of life.”
