Former NFL Player Chris Smith Dies at 31

North Carolina native Chris Smith, who played with a number of NFL teams over an eight-year career, has died at 31.

No cause of death has yet been announced, according to the New York Post.

The news of the player’s untimely death was reported in a tweet posted by his high school football team and by a local newspaper near his home in Rowan County, North Carolina.

Smith, a Salisbury native, graduated from West Rowan High School in 2010 and was a star defensive end on the high school’s football team.

By 2014, Smith was selected in the fifth round by the Jacksonville Jaguars, where he played his first three seasons in the NFL.

Starting in 2017, Smith spent a season or less with a number of teams before retiring. Those teams include the Bengals, Browns, Panthers, and several others. He also signed with the XFL’s Seattle Sea Dragons in March of this year.

Several NFL players took to Twitter to mourn the loss:

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