A close friend of former NFL linebacker Aldon Smith has lifted the lid on the tragic final hours before his death at the age of just 36.
Smith, who played 75 games in the NFL between 2011 and 2020, died on arrival at the Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose, California, on Saturday, but until now very few details were known about the circumstances surrounding the tragedy.
In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, his friend Amir Shirazi has now revealed that he found Smith slumped over in the front passenger seat of his white Chevy pickup.
In the hours before he died, Smith had been helping deliver pizzas to a homeless charity. In a photo shared on social media – believed to be the last ever taken of him – he can be seen wearing a Knicks NBA jersey and posing for the camera.
Shirazi then drove Smith back to his home in Los Gatos, via a grocery store and a gas station, and then ran inside.
When he returned a few moments later, he found Smith slumped over and immediately called 911, before asking former 49ers running back Anthony Dixon to come and help perform CPR.
Aldon Smith is pictured around an hour before he died, delivering pizzas to a homeless charity
The San Francisco 49ers announced the news of his shock death at the age of just 36
Less than an hour later, Smith was declared dead in hospital, but the cause of death is still pending, according to Santa Clara County’s chief medical examiner.
‘We were joking about life and talking about stuff right before,’ Shirazi told the Chronicle. ‘He was perfectly fine an hour before. I came out and he was basically dead in my front seat.’
Smith found hard times after quitting the NFL and has a history of substance abuse, but Shirazi said he thinks it was a ‘natural death’ and believes it may have been a heart attack that killed his friend.
He said he had not seen Smith using drugs on Saturday and had only seen him smoking marijuana occasionally over the past few years, per the Chronicle.
‘He was a very sweet, caring, loving giant,’ he added.
Another of the men who saw Smith in the hours before his passing was Scott Wagers, the co-founder of CHAM Deliverance Ministry, the local homeless charity where the pizzas had been delivered earlier in the day.
The former All-Pro linebacker’s career in the NFL was marred by a series of arrests
Smith turned himself in to police in 2018 after allegedly attacking his then-fiancee
He admits that he had noticed something off with Smith when he met him.
‘He got out of the car and he looked maybe kind of tired,’ Wagers said, ‘but he’s a giant man. I’m like, “Hey man, are you good? Are you good?” and I said, “Can I take some pictures?”
‘So we took some pictures, we got the pizzas with my team, and we went and took all the pizza out there. My impression was that this is a young man that wanted to help the homeless, which was great.’
Once viewed as one of the most promising young stars in the league, Aldon’s star-crossed career, which featured stints with the 49ers, Oakland Raiders, and Dallas Cowboys, ended in 2020.
Smith was drafted by San Francisco with the seventh-overall pick of the 2011 NFL Draft, going on to start in Super Bowl XLVII with the team.
He finished second for the defensive rookie of the year award in 2011, and he was a first-team All-Pro and a Pro Bowler in 2012.
However, his career on the field was blemished by a series of scandals, including 10 arrests in nine years.
His NFL career was blemished by a series of scandals, including 10 arrests in nine years
They included no fewer than four arrests since being drafted by the 49ers in 2011, and he voluntarily went to a treatment facility in 2013.
Among that string of legal woes was an arrest on suspicion of driving under the influence in Miami in 2012, another on the same charge in San Jose in 2013 in which he crashed his car into a tree and an arrest for three felony charges of possessing illegal assault weapons in October 2013.
He was slapped with a nine-game suspension in 2014 while still with the 49ers for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy. He was later released by the team following yet another arrest that included hit-and-run, DUI and vandalism charges.
At the time of Smith’s release in 2014, defensive line coach Jim Tomsula stressed that he and the 49ers organization would continue to support Smith on his road to recovery, and added a message to everyone else struggling with alcohol and drugs.
Returning from his initial suspension, Smith signed with the Raiders in September 2015. However, his redemption arc was cut short when he was suspended by the NFL again that November, this time for a year for again violating the league’s substance abuse policy.
During his five years away, Smith had yet more run-ins with the law. He was transferred to an inpatient rehab center following a domestic violence arrest in 2018.
He was accused of biting his fiancée Shawna McKnight’s wrist and fleeing the scene before officers arrived.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell surprised many by lifting Smith’s suspension in May 2020 with the player attempting one more comeback.
He signed with the Seattle Seahawks in 2021 but just two days later, he was arrested again on a second-degree battery charge in Louisiana. The Seahawks went on to waive him.
It marked the end of his NFL career with Smith failing to play again before announcing on the ‘I Am Athlete’ podcast in 2023 that he was retiring from the game, saying ‘I’m done with ball.’
Smith attended the University of Missouri and was drafted seventh overall by San Francisco in 2011, recording 14 sacks as a rookie. He was an All-Pro in 2012, finishing with 19 1/2 sacks and helping the 49ers reach the Super Bowl.
Over his first four seasons in San Francisco, Smith had 44 sacks in 50 games
Over his first four seasons in San Francisco, Smith had 44 sacks in 50 games and appeared to be poised for a major free agent deal before his legal problems forced him out of the league.
In 2024, Smith told NBC Sports Bay Area that he was ‘good at playing football, but I wasn’t a good football player.’
‘Being a football player is, in my opinion, a responsibility and something that you need some discipline and direction and help and guidance,’ he said.
‘There’s a lot that goes into it. … There were things off the field that I needed to work on, just being a young man and wandering in my way about life.’
