Alphonso Smith Jr., the former NFL cornerback who starred at Wake Forest before playing four seasons with the Denver Broncos and Detroit Lions, has died at 40. TMZ first reported the news Wednesday, citing sources with direct knowledge who said he died by suicide at a housing community in Florida.
Hours before his death, Smith posted a long, unraveling message on Facebook. He apologized to his children directly. He apologized to his mother, his siblings, his friends. He called himself a coward more than once and described a struggle he said had been inside him for a long time.
One line has traveled further than the rest: “I needed help & did not get it.”
He also wrote about being harmed as a child by an older woman, and about his belief that what happened to him then shaped how he treated people later. He said he had hurt others.
Alphonso Smith Jr. was born in Pahokee, Florida, a small town in the Glades that has sent an improbable number of players to major college football and the NFL. He left it for Wake Forest and became one of the best defensive backs the ACC has produced. He finished his college career with 21 interceptions, still a conference record. He was a consensus All American in 2008, second team All American the year before, and first team All ACC twice. Wake Forest inducted him into its athletic hall of fame in 2021.
Denver traded up to take him in the 2009 draft, using a future first round pick to land him at No. 37 overall. That price followed him. He appeared in 15 games as a rookie, never locked down a role in the Broncos secondary, and was traded to Detroit in September 2010 for tight end Dan Gronkowski.
Detroit is where the football actually clicked. In his first season with the Lions, Smith started 10 games, pulled down five interceptions, returned one for a touchdown and recorded 39 tackles. It was the best year of his career. The Lions waived him at the 2012 roster deadline, brought him back midseason, and that was the end of it. He retired with 88 tackles, eight interceptions and two defensive touchdowns across 42 games.
Talking to Wake Forest in 2021, Smith described his NFL run as challenging with real ups and downs, but said it was a lifelong dream and that he made his plays. After football he stayed tied to his hometown and stayed involved in athletic programs there.
His death is the second suicide out of the Broncos 2009 draft class. Wide receiver Kenny McKinley, taken in the fifth round that same year, died by suicide in September 2010 while dealing with debt and a gambling problem. Two young men from one draft board, 16 years apart, same ending.
There is a version of this story that gets told as a football tragedy, and that version misses it. Alphonso Smith Jr. was 40 years old and had been out of the league for 14 years. What he described in that post was not a career that ended too soon. It was a man carrying something he said started when he was a child, who told people he needed help and did not believe he ever got it, and who wrote it all down publicly only when it was too late to matter.
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, or chat at 988lifeline.org.
