Former NFL player Chris Smith dies at 31

Former NFL star Chris Smith has died, his agent announced on Twitter. He was 31.

Smith, who was a former defensive lineman for the Cleveland Browns, spent eight years in the NFL and played for multiple teams including the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Cincinnati Bengals and the Las Vegas Raiders.

His cause of death was not immediately known.

On social media, tributes poured in for the former player.

"Chris was one of the kindest people, team-mates and friends we've had in our organisation," the Browns team wrote on Twitter.

Smith began his NFL career in 2014 when he was drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars as a defensive lineman. But his personal life was marred by tragedy. In 2019, his girlfriend Petara Cordero was killed in a car accident just weeks after giving birth to their child.

Tony Khan, son of Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shahid Khan, described Smith as a "great team-mate and friend".

"He suffered a tragic loss," he wrote on Twitter. "I hope they are reunited in Heaven."

Smith spent three seasons with the Jaguars before going on to play for the Cincinnati Bengals and the Cleveland Browns. But before he joined the NFL, he was a hometown hero and star of his North Carolina high school football team, according to a local newspaper.

"He had been the ultimate give-back guy and had been a generous donor to local schools and projects," the Salisbury Post wrote in an obituary.

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