Derrick Thomas, a nine-time Pro Bowl linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs, was seriously injured in a one-car accident on an icy road Sunday afternoon that killed one of his close friends.
Television reports said the 33-year-old Thomas, one of the NFL’s most dominant defensive players, sustained a broken back. But a team spokesman and a spokeswoman at Liberty (Mo.) Hospital declined to confirm that.
Thomas and his companions were en route to Kansas City International Airport to fly to St. Louis for the Buccaneers-Rams NFC championship game when their car rolled over several times on a snowy highway.
The dead man was identified as Michael Tellis, 49, of Kansas City, Kan., the Missouri State Highway Patrol said. A close friend of Thomas, Tellis helped him set up projects such as a charity golf tournament in Kansas City.
Taylor scammed: Jacksonville running back Fred Taylor lost about $3 million in a fraud scheme that ensnared more than a dozen NFL players, according to the Miami Herald.
Taylor lost his entire $5 million signing bonus–more than $3 million after taxes–from the six-year contract he signed as a rookie in 1998 after investing in the scheme, the newspaper said.
