NFL Star’s Family Hires Lawyers to Investigate His Death

Thearon W. Henderson / Getty ImagesThe family of former NFL player Aldon Smith has hired a team of attorneys to investigate the circumstances surrounding his sudden death at the age of 36. In a statement released Tuesday, attorneys Harry Daniels, Bakari Sellers and Wayne Kendall revealed that the former San Francisco 49ers player’s brain has been sent to medical experts in Boston to test for chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). CTE is a degenerative brain disease associated with repetitive head injuries, which can only be diagnosed after death. According to Smith’s friend Amir Shirazi, the former NFL player spent part of Saturday delivering pizzas to a homeless shelter. Shirazi told the San Francisco Chronicle that after briefly leaving Smith alone in a vehicle, he returned to find him unresponsive. Since leaving the NFL, Smith had focused on mentoring young athletes through his initiative, “I.M. Loading,” which offered guidance and recovery support. No official cause of death has been determined. Read it at NBC SportsRead more at The Daily Beast.