The Denver Broncos legendary wide receiver reportedly had Stage 2 CTE when he died at the age of 33.
It’s been nearly eight months since Denver Broncos legend Demaryius Thomas died suddenly at the age of 33. Doctors at Boston University noted DT had Stage 2 C.T.E., but they believe the likely cause of death was due to seizure.
On Tuesday, doctors from Boston University announced that Thomas was posthumously diagnosed with Stage 2 C.T.E., but his life and death were also complicated by seizures brought on by a 2019 car crash. They attacked with little or no warning and led Thomas to wreck other cars and fall down steps. 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 after a seizure.
“He had two different conditions in parallel,” said Dr. Ann McKee, the neuropathologist who studied Thomas’s brain. She added that seizures were not generally associated with C.T.E.
The NFL has tried to put in protections to avoid C.T.E. within players, but with most of those players still living and/or playing there isn’t much proof those protections have worked. And while C.T.E. may not have been a direct cause in DT’s death, he played a majority of his career during a period of time in the NFL when player safety was supposedly enhanced. The result of this study should raise plenty of concerns over the safety of the game and the work the NFL has done to mitigate these issues.