Former NFL player and Appalachian State star Matt Stevens has died at the age of 51.
After being selected by the Buffalo Bills in the third round of the 1996 draft, Stevens played for five teams and got his hands on a Super Bowl ring before eventually hanging up his cleats in 2003.
The ex-safety is survived by mom Jean Thillberg, dad Vincent, brother Mark and children Cassidie and Colin Stevens of Avon by the Sea, New Jersey. His cause of death has not yet been announced.
A memorial service is set to be held on Friday, March 28 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, according to an obituary by Walker’s Funeral Home.
Steven was a standout in his college days, becoming a two-time Appalachian State All-American and being inducted into the school’s Athletics Hall of Fame before entering the NFL Draft.
He recorded two interceptions and one fumble recovery in his rookie season with the Bills, before spending two years with the Philadelphia Eagles and then heading to the Washington Redskins.
Former NFL player and Appalachian State star Matt Stevens has died at the age of 51
Stevens, a Super Bowl winner with the Patriots, spent eight years in the NFL before retiring
It was in Washington where the Michigan-born man would spent the majority of his NFL career, featuring 33 times and racking up seven interceptions, nine pass breakups and three forced fumbles across three seasons.
Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots then came calling in 2000, a year before he helped them get the better of the St. Louis Rams at Super Bowl XXXVI.
Stevens appeared in all three playoff games on the Patriots’ run to glory that season, but that turned out to be his final contribution for New England after he joined the brand new Houston Texans franchise in the 2002 expansion draft.
He played his last two seasons with the Texans before eventually retiring from football in 2003.
Four years after bowing out, the Super Bowl winner was paralyzed from the waist down when he broke his spinal cord in a horror motorcycle accident.
However, in 2011 a specialized leg brace allowed Stevens to move around again.
