Home ahoho FORMER NFL STAR ALPHONSO SMITH JR. DEAD AT 40 BY APPARENT SUICIDE AFTER LEAVING CHILLING FINAL FACEBOOK CONFESSION! 🏈🕊️The sports world is reeling in utter shock and heartbreak today after former NFL cornerback and Wake Forest football legend Alphonso Smith Jr. tragically took his own life at a housing community in Florida. Just hours before the devastating news broke, the 40-year-old posted an alarming, deeply distressed final message on Facebook. A consensus All-American at Wake Forest who still holds the school’s all-time record with 21 interceptions, Smith was inducted into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2022 before spending four seasons in the NFL with the Denver Broncos and Detroit Lions.

FORMER NFL STAR ALPHONSO SMITH JR. DEAD AT 40 BY APPARENT SUICIDE AFTER LEAVING CHILLING FINAL FACEBOOK CONFESSION! 🏈🕊️The sports world is reeling in utter shock and heartbreak today after former NFL cornerback and Wake Forest football legend Alphonso Smith Jr. tragically took his own life at a housing community in Florida. Just hours before the devastating news broke, the 40-year-old posted an alarming, deeply distressed final message on Facebook. A consensus All-American at Wake Forest who still holds the school’s all-time record with 21 interceptions, Smith was inducted into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2022 before spending four seasons in the NFL with the Denver Broncos and Detroit Lions.

ahoho · 03/09/2026 · comments off

Ex-NFL Player Alphonso Smith Jr. Dead at 40

Former NFL PlayerAlphonso Smith Jr. Dead at 40

Remembering Alphonso Smith Jr.

Remembering Alphonso Smith Jr.Launch Gallery

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Alphonso Smith Jr. — a former NFL player and standout cornerback at Wake Forest University — has died … TMZ Sports has learned.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ Sports … the former cornerback died by suicide on Wednesday at a housing community in Florida.

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Alphonso’s final Facebook post highlighted his unstable emotional state before his death.

In the post, Alphonso 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!”

He repeatedly apologizes in the post, calls himself a “coward” … and includes a reference to some abuse suffered at the hands of an older woman when he was a young boy.

Alphonso ended the post by writing, “I am SORRY! THIS IS IT!”

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Alphonso attended Wake Forest from 2004 to 2008 … earning All-American honors in his final season with the school. He was inducted into the school’s athletic hall of fame in 2022.

He was drafted by the Denver Broncos in 2009 — though they traded him to the Detroit Lions just one year later. He played 3 seasons in Detroit … ending his career after the 2012 campaign. He recorded 88 tackles and 8 interceptions across 42 NFL games.

Alphonso was 40 years old.

RIP

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