Report: Another Tragic Story of an NFL Player Committing Suicide

According to the Tampa Bay Times, Tennessee Titans Wide Receiver, O.J. Murdock, has died of an apparent suicide. Murdock was only twenty-five-years old.

Murdock was found inside his car with a self-inflicted gunshot wound and was later pronounced dead at the hospital.

Murdock played one season in the NFL but spent the entirety of it on injured reserve, and he did not report for training camp this year due to “personal reasons.”

This suicide comes on the heals of the NFL announcing its Health and Wellness program aimed at safeguarding and protecting players who are suffering with mental-health problems. The League provides an NFL Life Line which players and their families are encouraged to call if a person is suspected of having mental-health concerns.

It’s obviously too early to speculate that head trauma was a contributing factor in Murdock’s death. However, there is no question that Murdock — like any other high school, college or professional football player — experienced repeated sub-concussive hits throughout his playing career.

Several former NFL players have committed suicide in the past eight years: Ray Easterling, Junior Seau, Dave Duerson, Michael Current, Shane Dronett, Terry Long and Andre Waters. Several other former players died in perplexing ways, but they were not ruled a suicide: John Grimsley, Curtis Whitley, Mike Webster, Tom McHale, and Justin Strzelczyk. At least nine of the twelve were diagnosed with Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE).