A variety of players from diverse backgrounds have played in the NFL over the decades. We've
seen them live out some of the most glorious moments of their lives on the gridiron, but
sadly, off the field, many of them have also had to endure major tragedies.
Former New England Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi considered football to be the love
of his life. He was a standout at the University of Arizona who went on to be one of the best
defensive players of his generation. He played thirteen seasons in the NFL, all with the
Patriots, during which he won three Super Bowls and racked up more than a thousand career
tackles. But things took a turn for the worse in 2005 when Bruschi started displaying the
symptoms of a stroke: a bad headache and weakness on the left side of his body. He didn't think
much of it initially, as he attributed the pain to a rough game a few days earlier. But
then his symptoms worsened, and the next day he realized that he couldn't see. Doctors
identified the cause and put him on medication to help him recover. Alas, the episode was
far from over.
Bruschi had a hole in his heart that was then operated on, and he had to rehabilitate following
the surgery. He managed to beat the odds and come back with a vengeance, as he returned
to the field after recovering. Years later, on July 4, 2019, he suffered another stroke,
but this time, he recognized the symptoms right away and quickly got himself to a hospital.
"Facial droop, speech slurred, arm weakness. We called 911, and we got to the hospital
as quickly as we could."
These days, Bruschi stays busy with a number of activities, like serving as an NFL analyst
on ESPN and working with a non-profit to spread more information about strokes.
Quarterback Joe Theismann didn't anticipate that an awful injury would get in the way
of his NFL career, but it's a rough game, and damaged bones and muscles are always a
possibility. The injury in question was notoriously gruesome. During a Monday Night Football matchup
on November 18, 1985, Theismann was playing for Washington against the New York Giants.
During the second quarter, Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor sacked Theismann, causing
his leg to snap. The injury turned out to be so bad that it ended his career. As he
recalled to the Washington Post in 2005,
"At that point, I was feeling some pressure, and the next thing I knew, I heard what sounded
like a shotgun going off — Pow! Pow! — and felt this excruciating pain. Then I was on
the ground. It was at that point, I also found out what a magnificent machine the human body
is. Almost immediately, from the knee down, all the feeling was gone in my right leg.
The endorphins had kicked in, and I was not in pain."
Theismann's body may have been able to mask the pain in the moment, but it couldn't change
the fact that he would never be able to play another down. He eventually took the injury
in stride and used the life-changing experience to gain perspective. As he put it,
"People would say that it was a tragedy that happened in my life, but it really wasn’t.
It was a blessing. I’d become somewhat of a self-absorbed individual and didn’t really
care much about a lot of things except myself. I looked at myself and I wanted to be a better
person. And ever since that day in my life [...] I’ve tried to be a better person."
"Every day, you have to live your life to the fullest. Every day you have to go after
with everything you have, 'cause there's no guarantees for tomorrow.
In January 2010, 26-year-old defensive end Gaines Adams passed away unexpectedly after
being taken to Self Regional Hospital in Greenwood, South Carolina. It was an especially tough
loss, both because of his young age and because he had a reputation as a solid role model
with the ability to inspire other players with his positive examples. The cause of death
was determined to be a cardiac arrest.
At the time of his death, Adams was a three-year NFL veteran with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
and Chicago Bears. It was later revealed that he had an enlarged heart, which was previously
unknown to him and his family. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell memorialized him by noting,
"I remember him at the 2007 draft as a fine young man. Our condolences to Gaines' family,
his teammates on the Bears and Buccaneers, and their organizations on their loss."
Brian Piccolo was a promising NFL player whose life was cut short after he was diagnosed
with an aggressive form of testicular cancer. One year after his 1970 death, his story was
told in the popular TV movie Brian's Song. After his diagnosis, he went through a grueling
surgery in which doctors tried to remove a tumor from his chest. As Piccolo said at the
time,
"At first, the word malignancy scared the heck out of me. But the doctor was just fabulous.
He talked to me a lot — even before the first operation — and made me understand."
Piccolo's priorities changed after the diagnosis, as he wanted to be around for his family more
than he wanted to play football. He went through a long and tough battle that included chemotherapy,
a mastectomy, and other medical procedures. Alas, he couldn't beat back the disease completely,
as he passed away at the age of 26. As his former coach George Halas said at the time,
"Brian made the most of the brief 26 years allotted to him, and he will not be forgotten."
"The world needs people like Brian."
On November 26, 2007, Washington football player Sean Taylor suffered a brutal and fatal
end at the hands of burglars who invaded his home and shot him. For a while, it looked
like he might pull through at the hospital, but he ultimately succumbed to his injuries.
He was only 24 years old. Five men from Fort Myers, Florida were charged with his murder.
The man who shot him was handed a prison sentence of 57 years. As the Assistant State Attorney
said of Taylor in his closing statement,
"He lost his life defending and protecting his family. They kicked the door in and they
shot him and killed him, for no good reason."
While he was alive, Taylor loved that he was able to play football as a career. As he once
said,
"It's almost like you play a kid's game for a king's ransom."
Cincinnati Bengals running back Stanley Wilson was a talented player whose career was derailed
by a persistent cocaine habit. This was an especially big problem when his team made
it to Super Bowl 23 in 1989. Wilson was a player with a lot of potential, but his vice
kept getting in the way. In fact, he was suspended for the entirety of two separate seasons for
violating the NFL's drug policy. And if he had been available to play for that Super
Bowl, his team may very well have won a championship instead of succumbing to the San Francisco
49ers in a close game.
"I believe, in my heart, if we'd have had him in that ballgame, we would've won that
ballgame going away. It wouldn't have been a close game."
For a while, it seemed like Wilson had kicked his habit for good. He was even working on
an autobiography that would discuss his sobriety. But then things took a turn for the worse
right before the Super Bowl, when he was discovered on a bathroom floor by one of his coaches.
This led to the NFL banning him from the big game. Some of his teammates felt betrayed.
He never played another NFL down thereafter. He would go on to a series of several rehab
stints, and in 1999 he was convicted of burglary and sentenced to 22 years in prison.
Arizona Cardinals defensive tackle Dan Williams lived through a nightmare when he lost his
father Thomas in a car accident in 2013. Thomas Williams was with his wife Karen and their
daughter Kristina to watch Dan play in a game against the New Orleans Saints. Karen was
behind the wheel when she collided with a guard rail and went over a bridge. The car
fell about 50 feet, and Thomas, who was the only person in the car believed to not be
wearing a seat belt, was thrown about 5 feet out of the car. When Dan returned to the field,
he confessed,
"I'm doing a lot better. Any time you lose a parent, it's definitely a tough loss. But
I just count my blessings that my mom and my sister [are] OK and they're doing all right.
God just had a different plan for my father."
While Dan was obviously sad to lose his father so suddenly, he was comforted by positive
memories. As he shared,
"Anyone who met my father, he always made a lasting impression. When I had to tell people
that he passed, people cried right there in front of me. That's the type of guy he was
[...] I know my father is smiling down on me and I believe he's watching over me."
For Warrick Dunn, mental health struggles were a very real thing that he couldn't escape.
He witnessed tragedy early on in his life when his police officer mother was killed
in an armed robbery when he was only 18 years old. This loss forced him to grow up really
fast and figure out a way to take care of his siblings. While he managed fine on his
own, he eventually realized that his past demons were catching up with him when he was
haunted by depression during his NFL career.
Dunn has been candid about his mental health struggles, as he's admitted that he neglected
himself while looking after his siblings. He also struggled to come to terms with the
fact that someone had shot and killed his mother. When he decided to confront his personal
battles and seek help for depression, he realized it wasn't as simple as it seemed. As he explained
during an interview with the NFLPA,
"I got to the point where I thought counseling can put together the pieces that will bring
my life back together. And it's not a quick fix. Counseling takes a while and it took
me six months to a year before I really started seeing any true progress."
Legendary quarterback Jim Kelly hasn't exactly had a stress-free life. While he's had plenty
of happy moments, he's no stranger to immense pain. When he played with the Buffalo Bills,
they made it to four straight Super Bowls, but they lost each one of them. As he told
Yahoo! in 2016,
"We did it four years in a row and did not win. But the thing about that was the resiliency,
the togetherness — we are such a close-knit family. We never gave up."
Things got much more challenging for Kelly when his infant son Hunter was diagnosed with
cerebral palsy in 1997. His condition worsened when doctors realized that Hunter actually
had a deadly illness called globoid -cell leukodystrophy, which gave him a life expectancy
of less than one year. But Kelly wasn't ready to give up hope. Hunter managed to live until
2005, dying at the age of 8. While Hunter beat expectations, it was still incredibly
hard for his father to bear. As he put it to Yahoo!,
"This was the lowest point of my life."
The next few years were equally tough as Kelly himself was diagnosed with cancer. Despite
all his struggles, though, he's managed to maintain a positive attitude. As he sees it,
"It's a journey of perseverance. I have found love all around me and that is a gift."
"Looking back, would you change anything?"
"Umm, maybe I would've called a few more running plays in Super Bowl 25."
Vincent Jackson
On February 15, 2021, former NFL wide receiver Vincent Jackson was discovered dead in a Florida
hotel room. He was only 38 years old. The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office announced
that Jackson could've been battling chronic alcoholism and concussions, based on statements
made by relatives of his to detectives. Sheriff Chad Chronister put it,
"Unfortunately, he suffered from chronic alcoholism. [...] We haven’t gotten the toxicology report
back, so can’t say with any certainty that was it. But a lot of longstanding health conditions
that contributed to his passing because of some alcohol abuse."
Jackson's family also reportedly suspected that he suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy,
a disease that can only be diagnosed after death. While he was alive, he was known for
his big heart and spending much of his free time supporting military families.
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