Former NFL Player Chris Smith Dies At 31, Condolences Flood In On Social Media

Published|Updated

Chris Smith, who spent eight seasons in the NFL, has died at the age of 31. His alma mater of West Rowan High School in North Carolina shared the news on Twitter late Monday night.

No cause of death has been announced at this time.

The defensive end was drafted in the fifth round of the 2014 NFL Draft by the Jacksonville Jaguars after a strong college career at Arkansas.

Smith played in a total of 72 NFL games over the course of his professional career with five different organizations. He spent three years in Jacksonville before playing two seasons with the Cleveland Browns. His last NFL appearance came with the Houston Texans during the 2021 campaign.

Cleveland tight end David Njoku was one of many to share their condolences about Smith's passing on Twitter.

Smith played in four games with the XFL's Seattle Dragons and picked up five tackles earlier this year.

The former Razorback suffered a tragedy in 2019 when his girlfriend Petara Cordero died after a car accident in Cleveland. Smith was driving the car, and while the two of them were able to exit the vehicle without major injury, Cordero was then struck by an oncoming vehicle.

Tags
Written by

Mark covers all sports at OutKick while keeping a close eye on the PGA Tour, LIV Golf, and all other happenings in the world of golf. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga before earning his master's degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. He somehow survived living in Knoxville despite ‘Rocky Top’ being his least favorite song ever written. Before joining OutKick, he wrote for various outlets including SB Nation, The Spun, and BroBible. Mark was also a writer for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate in 2016 when the team won the World Series. He's still waiting for his championship ring to arrive. Follow him on Twitter @itismarkharris.