Aldon.
It’s never easy to write about a young man’s death, but there’s something especially tragic in the story of Aldon Smith, the former 49ers pass-rusher who passed away today at the age of 36.
Most deaths of an athlete or former athlete contain some emotional heft; I’m reminded as I write that it isn’t even twelve months since Diogo Jota, Liverpool and Portugal striker extraordinaire, passed away either at or somewhere close to his athletic prime, having just won a title with his club, for example. However, this one’s hit me worse than most, and I honestly can’t put my finger on why. It could be that he’s my age - not long turned 36 - and could, with a different path, still be making plays (and money) in the league right now - but I think it might be more than that.
Losing Aldon Smith is an indictment of how to fail in dealing with a troubled young man with issues. Losing Aldon Smith is just a horrific, tragic waste of a talented athlete and young man. Losing Aldon Smith is to lose a man who formed some of my best 49ers fan memories and was a part of one of my favourite teams to watch. And it’s just so hard to process.
Remembering him at his best is not difficult, however. A surprise first-round pick at #7 overall in 2011, Aldon quickly settled into a rotational role in the 49ers pass rush, notching fourteen sacks and winning defensive rookie of the year even though he didn’t start a game. He was ahead of his time in a lot of ways, the ‘nickel’ rusher who came in on pass downs, and he formed an explosive partnership with Justin Smith at defensive end. The Smith-Smith axis might still be the standard by which I judge all 49ers pass-rushers by today, and it’s even a comparison I made for the 49ers newest pass-rusher, Romello Height, recently.
That speaks to the impact Smith had on a game of football, even while still ostensibly learning the professional game. My particularly fond memory is that year’s 20-3 Monday Night Football win over the Steelers, which finished at 5am/6am in the UK due to not one, but two, powercuts, and also was a game where Aldon Smith seemed to be in on every defensive play. An ending statline of 2.5 sacks seems to underplay just how much of a beast he was that night. Such were the Niners in those first years under Harbaugh - tough, exciting, and explosive, with Smith right at the base of it.
The second season, where he was probably one of the best defensive players in the league, notched an astonishing 19.5 sacks, was an All-Pro and went to the Super Bowl with the Niners, almost felt routine, and yet looking at the numbers now, it seems hard to comprehend just how dominant he was. The easiest one to point to is his 5.5 sack game against the Chicago Bears (which also included two fumble recoveries), but in truth, that year was a showcase of everything good about Smith. He was a truly dominant pass-rusher, and things seemed like they’d only get better as he matured and rounded out his game. Four and a half sacks in the opening three weeks of the 2013 season did little to dispell that thought, either.
He was everything, with the world at his feet. Every athletic tool. A huge man. Fast, strong, instinctive. I had never seen anything like him, and in all honesty, I don’t think I will again. He wasn’t a technician; he wasn’t mechanical; he just simply blew football players up. He was a phenom, and there was no reason to think he wouldn’t go on to be one of the best of all time.
But, just like that, and like in his only Super Bowl experience, the lights went out.
Smith, unfortunately, had legal issues follow him almost from the second he joined the NFL. I won’t get into them all, but a large amount involved alcohol. It seemed that never quite left him, and demons began to rear their head, with single-car accidents, DUIs and other legal troubles befalling Smith. He’d miss five games that season in rehabilitation, and in truth, it probably ought to have been more. The 49ers prioritised needing their best defensive player over his health, and while as a brazen fan it’s easy to lionise such behaviour (just win, baby, and all), it’s hard not to wonder if things could’ve been different now if those initial warning signs had been taken more seriously. I particularly remember reports that the 49ers knew he would check into a facility following the Colts game in that third week, and yet he played almost all the defensive snaps. It seemed off then, and does now.
Things muddled on, but Smith was eventually released by the 49ers in August 2015 following his third DUI. I’m not going to get too far into the conjecture as to why and what happened with Aldon Smith and the 49ers towards the end, at least, not until someone comes out and directly sources it, and one of the only people who can do that is no longer with us now. That said, it would be hard not to acknowledge that to this day, people attribute one of Smith’s trips off the rails to an argument over a personal matter with the team’s quarterback, Colin Kaepernick. Kaepernick has denied this, and in truth, it holds up to scrutiny - Smith appeared to have many more problems than a simple row with a teammate, whatever it might have been over.
He did play again, spending time with the then-Oakland Raiders and in 2020 with the Dallas Cowboys, but despite still showing all the skills he had, legal issues continued to keep him away from the league. His final flourish was a brief spell with the Seahawks, but that ended following more issues with DUI and battery in 2021. He would later be sentenced to a year in jail in 2023, thereafter saying he was done with football. His NFL career appeared to be over by the end of the 2020 season, and his most recent comments following his release suggested he would never play football again. He spoke of improving himself mentally, embarking on a sober life, and pursuing other things. This article covers it well, and it’s actually a tragic read now, knowing what we know. It really seemed like he was starting to win that battle, too, showing up a few times in recent years as a mental health advocate.
I don’t write about his legal issues to denigrate the man - I don’t agree with the things he did, I found them frustrating as a fan, and I’m sure everyone would rather have done without it - but honestly, we could choose to remember him like that, for his flaws, or we could let him live on in our hearts as what he was - a fantastic football player with huge issues.
As I write about it now, it’s more and more just coming out as a tragic tale. To be dead at 36, to have never found some sort of inner peace, and to have never conquered your demons… it all just seems so terribly sad. Smith was a wonderful player, a dominant athlete, and I suspect had he been able to keep himself in check, he’d probably still be in the NFL now, still bringing down quarterbacks, and frankly, looking at what he did even while battling himself, I think he would probably be heading for the Hall Of Fame. That’s what’s so difficult about understanding Smith - he was a spark that burnt so hard, so fast, and so brightly that it’s difficult to articulate it to those who only see an abbreviated career. He was just that damn good.
Moreover, he was a part of one of the best 49ers teams I’ve seen in my life, and a player I absolutely loved watching. I just wish I could’ve seen more. Whoever said it was better to burn out than fade away had it wrong - I wish Aldon had. I wish he’d found happiness, had a ten-year career, and faded away like so many ex-pros do. I wish he’d been able to come back at reunions, special events, and big playoff home games and wave to the crowd. I wish he’d put more memories on film. I wish he’d got to make the documentary and write the book he talked about in the article above. I, and I think all 49ers fans, even long after he wore the Red and Gold, wished for so much more for a man who made our hearts race on the football field.
Alas, today, his time ran out. But he’ll always live on for me and many others. Rest well, Aldon. I hope you find the peace in the next world you could never find in this - and we’ll always remember you as the young phenom who terrified opposing quarterbacks.
Forever a 49er.