NFL Player Alphonso Smith Jr. Dead at 40 

Content warning: This article discusses suicide. 

A former NFL player has left the world too soon. 

Alphonso Smith Jr., who played for the Detroit Lions and Denver Broncos during his three-year professional football career, died by suicide Sept. 2, Florida authorities confirmed in a statement. He was 40. 

“Just after 2:00 p.m., deputies responded to the 200 block of Shirly Drive, Pahokee, in reference to a suicide attempt,” the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement to E! News Sept. 3. “An adult male was transported to the hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.”

Just before his death, Smith appeared to be struggling with his mental health, and shared a concerning message to his Facebook profile Sept. 2. 

“Do not cry for me,” Smith wrote. “I tried everything in my power to fight the demons behind the ones that someone put into me.”

Addressing his children, siblings, mother and friends throughout the post, Smith concluded his troubling message with, “I am sorry.”