DALLAS — Former NFL guard Uche Nwaneri, who went to high school in the Dallas area, died last week at the age of 38, according to a social post from his former team, the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The Jaguars announced his death on Monday afternoon. Nwaneri played nearly his entire seven-year NFL career with the franchise.
The 38-year-old died at his wife's home in West Lafayette, Indiana, on Friday Dec. 30, the Lafayette Journal & Courier reported.
The newspaper reported Nwaneri was found unresponsive in a bedroom and that preliminary results from the county coroner indicated a possible heart attack.
Nwaneri played high school football at Naaman Forest in Garland, where he then committed to Purdue University in 2003. After four years, he would be picked by the Jaguars in the fifth round of the 2007 NFL Draft.
He played for Jacksonville from 2007 to 2013. He was a starting left guard in 2008 and then started at right guard through the next five seasons.
Nwaneri joined the Dallas Cowboys in June 2014 but was cut in August 2014 before the regular season.
The 38-year-old kept a presence on social media and YouTube under the name "The Observant Lineman." He garnered tens of thousands of followers across social media and YouTube.
