Demaryius Thomas

Demaryius Thomas, who is one of the Denver Broncos' all-time greats and tragically died in December of 2021, suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, ...

You know, I gotta get myself together,’ and he said, ‘I don’t feel like myself anymore.'” Although Thomas didn’t die from CTE, this is still a heart-breaking development, as it highlights some of the mental hardships that Thomas was going through towards the end of his life. “CTE itself does not cause death.

Demaryius Thomas had C.T.E. when he died in December at 33, but the posthumous diagnosis alone does not explain what role football had in the charismatic ...

In a video announcing his retirement last June, Demaryius Thomas acknowledged that he was trying to find his way. Fowler, Thomas’s former mentee, said he and many players believed they had some form of C.T.E. “It comes with the game,” he said, acknowledging that they all balance that risk with football’s life-changing benefits. That was his main goal, to get them out,” he said, referring to Thomas’s mother and grandmother. His head cracked the windshield and the Jaws of Life were needed to remove him from the vehicle. Thomas played a final, desultory season with the Jets, then went home to Georgia, his life at a crossroads. Denver drafted Thomas 22nd overall in 2010, the first receiver taken that year, and his career skyrocketed when quarterback Peyton Manning arrived in 2012, the first of five consecutive years in which he had 1,000 or more receiving yards. He said Thomas always had a ready smile despite his many challenges off the field. In sports, overcoming pain was a key to his success. Those closest to him said his behavior became increasingly erratic in the last year of his life, which was marked by the memory loss, paranoia and isolation that are hallmarks of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the degenerative brain disease linked to repeated head hits. The coroner’s office in Fulton County, Ga., has not yet ruled on the cause of his death, but doctors in Boston said he most likely died of suffocation after a seizure. “It was just a testament of how strong he was.” It depicts a cherished moment that now seems foreboding: The two beaming parents flank their son in the moments after his Denver Broncos won Super Bowl 50 as Demaryius looks downward with a pained expression, scratching the back of his head.