It’s always tragic to see someone die young, especially when that person is a player at the peak of their career. Some players have underlying health conditions, while others find themselves in tragic circumstances. Either way, dying young is always a tragedy. These are 10 NFL players who were unfortunate enough to pass away during their careers.
Which NFL players tragically passed away while still an active player in the NFL?
10. Jaylon Ferguson
Ferguson was an outside linebacker who played college football at Louisiana Tech before getting drafted 85th overall by the Baltimore Ravens in the 2019 NFL Draft. Ferguson played three seasons with the Ravens, where he was unsuccessful at securing a starting role, which led him down a darker path late in his life. Ferguson struggled to keep good company. In February 2019, the NFL rescinded their invitation for him to attend the Scouting Combine after discovering his misdemeanor simple battery conviction from 2015. Despite being a Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year and two-time All-American, Ferguson died in Baltimore on June 21, 2022, at the age of 26. His cause of death was later determined to be fentanyl-related.
9. Jovan Belcher
Belcher pulled the trigger in a murder-suicide at 25 years old on Dec. 1, 2012, killing his girlfriend, Kassandra Perkins, with himself. Belcher was a standout linebacker from the University of Maine who spent his entire career with the Chiefs before turning the gun on himself in the team’s practice facility. Belcher and Perkins were introduced through Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles, whose wife was a first cousin of Perkins. The two had a three-month-old baby.
8. Korey Stringer
Stringer’s death is one of the league’s most tragic among NFL players. On August 1, 2001, Stringer died from complications brought on by heat stroke during the Vikings’ training camp in Mankato, Minnesota. He was unable to complete the first practice session, held the morning of July 30, due to exhaustion, and did not participate in that day’s afternoon session, but he vowed to return the next day to complete the morning session, which was conducted in full pads. At 11:30 am, when practice ended, the heat index had reached 99°. The heat index peaked later that day at 110° with a high temperature of 90° and Stringer, at 27 years old, passed away.
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7. Chris Henry
Henry was a West Virginia Mountaineer before he was selected by the Bengals in the third round of the 2005 NFL draft. On December 16, 2009, Henry sustained injuries when he fell out of the back of a moving truck driven by his fiancée, Loleini Tonga, while they were engaged in a domestic dispute. The two had three children together. No charges were filed against his fiancée, and police announced that they found no evidence that Tonga drove recklessly or with excessive speed. The cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head, likely emphasized with a case of CTE.
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6. Chuck Hughes
The NCAA’s leader in single-game yardage, Hughes was drafted in the 4th round with the 99th overall pick in 1967 by the Eagles. After spending a couple of seasons in Philly, he moved on to the Detroit Lions where he would ultimately find his fate. Hughes had suffered an injury in an August 1971 preseason game against the Buffalo Bills, which led to him collapsing in the locker room. He was hospitalized, but doctors were unable to diagnose what was wrong and he was released despite never fully recovering.
On October 24, 1971, the Lions hosted the Chicago Bears at Tiger Stadium. In the fourth quarter, Hughes collapsed and passed away at the feet of Hall of Famer Dick Butkus. A postmortem examination revealed that the former NFL player was suffering from an undiagnosed and advanced arteriosclerosis and that he had a family history of heart disease. The direct cause of death was a coronary thrombosis that cut off blood flow to the heart, which caused a massive myocardial infarction.
5. Ralph Anderson
Anderson was the first NFL player to die among players while active. Anderson was a receiver at Santa Monica College and Los Angeles State University and played professionally in the American Football League (AFL) for the Los Angeles Chargers in 1960, predating the NFL merger. Anderson died in Los Angeles on November 27, 1960, due to diabetic complications. After going to the movies with his girlfriend and his teammate Ron Botchan, Anderson spent the night at the home of his girlfriend. She found him unresponsive the next morning and efforts to revive him were unsuccessful. Anderson had missed a game earlier in the 1960 season due to diabetic problems.
4. Gaines Adams
Adams was a unanimous All-American at the University of Clemson before he was drafted in the first round of the 2007 NFL Draft. Adams played professionally for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Chicago Bears before passing away from an unfound heart condition. Adams was taken to the emergency room at Self Regional Healthcare in Greenwood, South Carolina on the morning of January 17, 2010, after his girlfriend found him at home. The coroner confirmed, after an autopsy, that the former player died of cardiac arrest due to cardiomyopathy at the age of 26 years old.
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3. Dwayne Haskins
Haskins’ story is one of the league’s most tragic. The former Ohio State signal caller and first-round pick fell on hard times, getting a second chance in the league as the Steelers’ third-string quarterback. Haskins died as a direct result of injuries he sustained around 7:00 a.m. EDT on April 9, 2022, after he was struck by a dump truck while attempting to cross I-595 near Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on foot. Haskins was with teammates training when his wife, who was not traveling with him, received a call from Haskins after he had run out of gasoline for his rented vehicle letting her know of his attempt to get more at a gas station prior to being struck by a dump truck. A toxicology report revealed Haskins had a blood alcohol level of .24 and had also tested positive for ketamine and norketamine.
2. Derrick Thomas
Considered one of the greatest pass rushers of all time, Thomas played 11 seasons with the Chiefs until his death in 2000. Kansas City selected Thomas fourth overall in the 1989 NFL draft. During his NFL playing career, he not only received nine Pro Bowls and two first-team All-Pro selections but also set the single-game sacks record among players. After the Chiefs’ 1999 season, Thomas died of a pulmonary embolism following a car crash.
Thomas’ SUV went off Interstate 435 in Clay County as he and two passengers were driving to Kansas City International Airport during a snowstorm for a flight to St. Louis to watch the NFC Championship Game between the St. Louis Rams and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Police reports indicated that Thomas, who was driving, was speeding at approximately 70 mph even though snow and ice were rapidly accumulating on the roadway. He was posthumously inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2009 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 2014.
1. Sean Taylor
The most infamous player death, Sean Taylor was a safety for the Washington Redskins where he played four seasons until his murder in 2007. Taylor was drafted fourth overall after winning the 2001 BCS National Championship team and the Jack Tatum Trophy. On November 26, 2007, Taylor heard noises in his house and, while investigating the cause, he was shot in his leg. His fiancée, Jackie García, and their 18-month-old daughter, Jackie, were unharmed.[45] Taylor’s femoral artery was severed, causing extensive blood loss.
He was rushed to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where he died the following day at 24 years old. Taylor was posthumously voted starting free safety for the NFC team for the 2008 Pro Bowl and voted a second-team All-Pro. Teammates Chris Cooley, Chris Samuels and Ethan Albright all wore jerseys with No. 21 during the 2008 Pro Bowl. The three jerseys were auctioned off and the proceeds were donated to the Sean Taylor Memorial Trust Fund. His number was later retired by the franchise.
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