Neck Pain When Shrugging/Deadlifting

Hey! This post isn’t for myself, but for my lifting partner. Whenever he shrugs or does deadlifts, his neck will tighten up later that day and takes 3-4 days before it will finally loosen again. Any idea what could be causing this? He tries to stretch it out, but that only gives relief for a little while. It’s gotten to the point where he won’t even do deadlifts, or anything that might make his neck tighten up. It has really put a kink in the training plan because it can limit what we can do for back work. Any advice would be great!