After a standout career as an All-American for the University of Washington, the Detroit Lions selected defensive tackle Reggie Rogers with the seventh pick of the 1987 NFL Draft.
Rogers never lived up to the lofty billing on the field and ran into a myriad of problems off the field. Rogers was found dead in Seattle on Thursday afternoon.
According to Jennifer Sullivan of the Seattle Times, police responded to a call of a man not breathing and apparently dead early Thursday afternoon. Officers confirmed Rogers was the man in question.
Rogers was a two-sport star at Washington playing both football and basketball before entering the NFL in 1987. He spent just two seasons with the Lions and had the first of what would be countless transgressions with the law. Rogers killed three teenagers after running a stop sign in Pontiac, Mich. in Oct. 1988. His blood-alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit. He was found guilty of negligent homicide and spent a year in jail.
He returned to the NFL in 1991 with the Buffalo Bills and played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1992, but was soon out of the league altogether.
Rogers was sentenced to another year in prison in December 2011 after his sixth drunk driving conviction. Rogers was arrested again earlier this month on a domestic violence charge.