Shortly after midnight on Tuesday, Rudi Johnson took his own life in Florida. Rudi Johnson, a former running back for the Cincinnati Bengals, passed away.
The former NFL player passed earlier this week, according to a family source who spoke to TMZ Sports.
Although the cause of his death is unknown, we do know that he had been dealing with mental health problems and the potential impacts of CTE recently, which he was unable to overcome.
According to the family source, Johnson’s top priority before passing away was helping others both on and off the field to the best of his ability. His age was forty-five.
After playing minimally in his first two seasons in Cincinnati, Johnson, who was selected by the Bengals in the fourth round of the 2001 NFL Draft, took off in Year 3.
He ran for over 4,000 yards and 36 touchdowns in his next three seasons on the football field after rushing for 957 yards and nine touchdowns as a 24-year-old.
After playing for the Detroit Lions in 2008, Johnson’s NFL career finally ended. He was a standout player at Auburn University before turning pro, where he was named SEC Player of the Year once.
