The death of Vincent Jackson rocked the NFL world, and Ryan Leaf has had enough. The former NFL quarterback went to Twitter to express his frustrations about Jackson’s death. He said the deaths of players like Jackson and former Baltimore Ravens running back Lorenzo Taliaferro should be a red flag for the NFL.
“My NFL brothers continue to die and nobody is doing a g— thing about it,” Leaf said in the video. “I talked to another brother who spent the weekend in a psych ward today. The NFL just doesn’t f— care. They’ll write condolence letters… but if they were actually invested, they’d actually put some money behind the legends community and into the mental health, substance abuse side of it. Once you’re bad for the brand, the shield, they don’t give two s—.”
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Leaf, who was emotional, throughout the video went to say: “I don’t know what the hell to do. “They don’t get how precious life is, and then I have this f—ing survivor’s guilt. You need to do something. …You should be part of the solution.” Leaf made these comments before Jackson’s autopsy was released, which was announced on Wednesday morning, and Jackson was dealing with “chronic alcoholism.” The official cause of death has not been released as officials are waiting for the toxicology report.
Jackson was found dead in a hotel room in Florida on Monday. He checked into the Homewood Suites Hotel in Florida on Jan. 11, and his family reported him missing last week. The reason for Jackson checking into the hotel is unknown, but Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister has a theory.
“Well, this is true speculation, but what the family is telling me is that he suffered from CTE. They believe he had a lot of concussion problems and when you suffer from that, you’re not yourself.” He then added: “[The family believes] wholeheartedly all of these actions are the result of what he suffered while he was playing in the NFL.”
Leaf was drafted No. 2 overall in the 1998 NFL Draft by the San Diego Chargers. His career ended in 2002 and he has worked multiple jobs, including a college football analyst for ESPN2 and ESPNU. Jackson played for the Chargers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers in his 12 years in the NFL.
