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Browns defensive end Chris Smith will be in the lineup for Cleveland’s Monday Night Football tilt against the Jets, just days after the death of his girlfriend.

Smith was given the option to take time away from the team when his girlfriend, Petara Cordero, was killed in a car accident on Wednesday.

“I am going to play tonight because it is something she would want me to do,” Smith said in a statement. “She would want me to keep doing what I love and stay strong. I play for her tonight. She is my why.”

The defensive end’s Lamborghini hit the median after a tire malfunction on a Cleveland highway, though both Smith and Cordero were able to exit the car without major injury.

Cordero was then struck by an oncoming car and died.

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