Alphonso Smith Jr., the former Denver Broncos cornerback whose college play made him one of Wake Forest’s most decorated defensive backs, has died at 40. A Wednesday report said the death occurred at a housing community in Florida and cited suicide.
For readers searching his name now, the reason is the same one that shadowed the end of his life: Smith was a former NFL player whose path was once tied to one of the league’s most memorable draft gambles. Denver took him in the 2009 NFL Draft, then gave up its 2010 1st-round pick to get him, only for the Seattle Seahawks to turn that pick into Earl Thomas. Thomas went on to become a 5-time NFL All-Pro, a 7-time Pro Bowler, a Super Bowl champion and a member of the NFL’s 2010s All-Decade Team.
Smith’s own college résumé was strong enough to make him a name at Wake Forest long before the NFL moved on. He played there from 2004 to 2008, earned All-American honors in his final season, was a 2-time All-American and 2-time All-ACC selection, and still holds the ACC career record with 21 interceptions. Wake Forest inducted him into its athletic hall of fame in 2022.
The NFL never fully matched that promise. Smith, listed at 5-foot-9 and 193 pounds, played three more seasons after leaving Denver, then was out of the league after appearing in just four games in the 2012 season. That gap between the player he was in college and the career he had in the NFL is what made him such a striking draft story, and it is also why his death at 40 lands with extra force now.
One detail from the final hours of his life adds to the unease around the report: TMZ said Smith’s last Facebook post appeared to point toward taking his own life. No further details have been confirmed in the material available, but the day’s story is no longer about a forgotten draft pick. It is about a former standout whose record still stands, whose name once carried real hope, and whose ending leaves the hardest question unanswered.
