Much of the U.S. woke up Sunday to news of a senseless tragedy, of former Saints defensive end Will Smith being shot dead over a fender-bender dispute.
Smith, 34, was rear-ended in New Orleans, and he exchanged words with the driver of the car that hit his. At some point, the other driver pulled out a gun and shot Smith multiple times. Smith’s wife, too, was shot in the leg, but she made it to the hospital, while the former 2004 first-round pick was declared dead at the scene.
Mourning such a trivial incident turned tragic, many of Smith’s former teammates and NFL peers saluted him on social media, while also lamenting the pointless escalation — which Smith, himself, had bemoaned four years earlier.
With Smith gone and his message as resonant as ever, the NFL remembered their friend.
