Aldon Smith opened up about personal struggles in interview released before his death
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- Aldon Smith died at 36 over the weekend, one day after the third and final part of his barbershop-style interview with Tee Maultsby was released on Friday, June 13.
- Drafted seventh overall by the San Francisco 49ers in 2011, Smith racked up 33.5 sacks in his first two NFL seasons — still a league record — and helped lead the 49ers to the 2012 Super Bowl while earning first-team All-Pro honors.
- Smith's legal troubles began with three felony charges for possessing illegal assault weapons in October 2013, which led to a nine-game suspension and his eventual release from the 49ers after the 2014 season.
- After being cut by the Seattle Seahawks in 2021 training camp following a second-degree battery accusation in Louisiana, Smith moved to Texas, worked door-to-door selling roof packages, racked up additional DUIs, and was sentenced to a year in jail in April 2023 — after which he said he gave up alcohol for good.
- Hours before his death, Smith was with friend Amir Shirazi delivering pizzas to a local charity; after a gas station stop and a visit to Shirazi's Los Gatos home, Shirazi returned outside to find Smith slumped over in the car, telling the San Francisco Chronicle, 'He was perfectly fine an hour before.'
- The Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner told the San Jose Mercury News that Smith suffered a medical emergency, but the cause of death has not been released.
- Across the three-part conversation, Smith spent far more time on his personal battles than his football career, capturing his lifelong self-doubt with the line: 'I never thought I was good enough.'
Why it matters: Smith's interview — released one day before his death — functions as an inadvertent final testament from a player whose 33.5-sack rookie record was eclipsed by felony weapons charges, DUIs, a year in jail, and his own admission 'I never thought I was good enough.' His final known act, delivering charity pizzas with a friend, shows he was actively rebuilding when a medical emergency ended his life at 36.
