Super Bowl Champion Jordan Devey Dies By Suicide At 38, Family Suggests CTE As Contributing Factor

Jordan Devey, a former NFL offensive lineman who won a Super Bowl ring with the New England Patriots, has died at age 38, with his family confirming he died by suicide earlier this week. He leaves behind his wife, Linsey, and four children.

Devey spent seven seasons in the league across five franchises, appearing in 44 career games. After being selected out of the University of Memphis, he broke into the NFL with New England, where he captured a championship in Super Bowl XLIX during his second season. His career later took him to the San Francisco 49ers, where he started nine of 15 games in 2015, followed by three seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs from 2016 through 2018, and finally brief stints with the Las Vegas Raiders and Buffalo Bills before he retired.

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A native of American Fork, Utah, Devey’s path to professional football was unconventional — he played in his high school marching band rather than suit up for the football team, later serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Costa Rica before attending Snow College and eventually transferring to Memphis.

In the wake of his death, Devey’s parents, Kerry and Leslie, chose to speak publicly about the private struggles their son carried. Leslie Devey said the family is “only beginning to understand that he was fighting a battle that he very well kept hidden from everyone,” describing a long, quiet fight with depression and anxiety that stayed largely invisible even to those closest to him.

The family has also raised the possibility that chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain condition linked to repeated head trauma in contact sports, may have played a role, though they’ve said the nature of his death will prevent them from having his brain tested for the disease.

Rather than keep the details private, Devey’s parents said they wanted his story to open a wider conversation about mental health. “We want people to understand that it’s okay to reach out,” Leslie said. “That help is there, and there’s nothing wrong with you for reaching out. You’re not fighting the battle alone.”