ST. PETERSBURG, Florida – Former NFL player Keith McCants was found dead Thursday at his home in Florida after an alleged drug overdose, investigators said. He was 53 years old.
The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office said in an email that deputies were called to a St. Petersburg home around 5:10 a.m. Thursday. McCants was dead inside the house, where it appears that others who called 911 also lived.
“It looks like it was a drug overdose, but we are waiting for confirmation from the coroner’s office,” Sheriff’s spokeswoman Amanda Sinni said. “This is still an open investigation.”
McCants, a linebacker, was the fourth overall pick in the first round of the 1990 NFL Draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Mobile, Alabama native earned honors to All-America as a college player at the University of Alabama.
McCants played three seasons in Tampa, followed by seasons with the then Houston Oilers and Arizona Cardinals before his football career ended in 1995. McCants was arrested several times for drug possession and drug accessories over the years.
His lifelong friend, St. Petersburg mayoral candidate Robert Blackmon, said he and others who knew McCants decided in 2010 to try to turn his life around.
“We lost this battle this morning,” Blackmon said in a Facebook post, adding that McCants had renewed optimism after undergoing hip replacement surgery in May.
“We started talking about his future again. The next 20 years. Buying a boat. His signature smile came back. But for every battle that could help him fight, there were others he had to fight. ‘face it alone,’ Blackmon said.
McCants also had financial problems, detailed in 2012 in an ESPN documentary titled “Broke,” about former professional players who went through bankruptcies and other monetary difficulties.
In his NFL career, McCants played 88 games and recorded 192 attacks, 13.5 quarterback sacks and a single interception that came back for a 46-yard touchdown with the Cardinals.
After retiring from football, McCants became Alabama’s first black marine police officer in the state’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.