Former NFL cornerback Alphonso Smith Jr. was found dead in a Florida community at age 40, days after posting a disturbing farewell on Facebook that referenced childhood abuse and personal demons.
A family member confirmed Smith's death to OutKick senior NFL writer Armando Salguero on Wednesday. The family member did not wish to be publicly identified. TMZ reported that Smith died by suicide, though OutKick stated it could not independently verify that report. A confirmed cause of death has not been released.
Smith, a Pahokee, Florida, native who set the school record at Wake Forest with 21 interceptions, played four seasons in the NFL after the Denver Broncos selected him 37th overall in the second round of the 2009 draft. He appeared in 42 games with 11 starts across his career, finishing with 88 tackles and eight interceptions before leaving the league.
The day before Smith was found dead, he is believed to have authored a lengthy Facebook post that read like a farewell. The message veered between self-recrimination, pleas for forgiveness, and references to forces he said he could not control.
Smith wrote:
"Do not cry for me! I tried everything in my power to fight the demons behind the ones that someone put into ME! I did not want to be that WAY! I know I have disappointed so many folks. This is a DEMON in me! But not only me! It's EVERYONE! I have HURT so many! I needed help & did not get it!"
The post grew darker as it continued. Smith called himself "a piece of sh**" and "A HUGE COWARD." He addressed his children directly, writing, "To my kids, daddy is SO SORRY!" He told friends that "your boy was f***ed up."
Then came the passage that OutKick noted remains unclear in its full meaning. Smith wrote to his family, his mother, his siblings, that "things happened to your boy, your brother while I was little that an older lady did onto me. As a result guys, I did the same onto others!"
OutKick reported that what exactly Smith was referring to "remains unclear." The post concluded with repeated apologies and the words: "THIS IS IT!"
The contrast between Smith's final Facebook message and his behavior just days before his death is stark. The New York Post reported that Smith posted an upbeat social media video in which he knocked on a nearby home's door and offered to buy breakfast for someone he called "No. 3" and their family.
"Just trying to see if No. 3 and his family want breakfast, whatever they want, they getting it!" Smith said in the video.
That cheerful clip, showing a man reaching out to neighbors, stands in sharp relief against the anguished post that followed. Whatever was tormenting Smith, it was not visible on camera days before his death.
Smith's football career carried real promise. At Wake Forest, his 21 interceptions remain a school record. Denver made him a second-round pick in 2009, but the Broncos traded him to the Detroit Lions after his rookie season.
In Detroit, Smith carved out a role. On December 11, 2011, he intercepted a pass from Minnesota Vikings quarterback Christian Ponder and scored, helping the Lions to a 34, 28 victory at Ford Field. Over four NFL seasons, he compiled 88 tackles and eight picks in 42 games, respectable numbers for a defensive back who never locked down a permanent starting job.
Smith's death adds to a painful pattern of former NFL players dying young. Former 49ers pass rusher Aldon Smith died at 36 earlier, and OutKick's own page referenced the recent suicide of Super Bowl champion Jordan Devey at 38 and the death of former Cowboys defender Marshawn Kneeland at 24, who was found to have early-stage CTE.
The league has faced persistent questions about what happens to players after the final whistle, not just physically, but mentally. Smith's post suggests a man grappling with wounds that predated his football career entirely.
Even after leaving the NFL, Smith maintained ties to his alma mater. He spoke to the Wake Forest football team last year, according to OutKick. The nature of that visit, whether it was motivational, personal, or part of a formal program, was not detailed.
Off-field struggles among former NFL players have drawn increasing scrutiny in recent years. The league has faced a range of incidents involving retired players, from domestic violence cases to legal troubles that followed men long after their playing days ended.
Smith's Facebook post points to something different, not a legal problem or a public incident, but a private torment that apparently stretched back to childhood. His reference to abuse by "an older lady" when he was young, and his admission that "I did the same onto others," raise questions that his death may leave permanently unanswered.
The specific Florida community where Smith was found has not been publicly identified. No law enforcement agency has released a statement. The family member who confirmed his death to OutKick provided no additional details.
The broader NFL community continues to reckon with the toll the sport and its aftermath take on players. Stories like Smith's sit alongside cases involving former players entangled in legal systems and others who have spoken publicly about the league's culture and its lasting effects on those who pass through it.
Smith's post asked for prayer. It asked for forgiveness. And it ended with two words that, in hindsight, read less like a statement and more like a goodbye: "THIS IS IT!"
Whatever institutions failed Alphonso Smith, and his own words say he "needed help & did not get it", the man reached out to a neighbor's door with breakfast in one hand and posted a cry for mercy with the other. The people who build systems to catch men in that kind of free fall owe an honest answer for why they didn't.
If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
