Former NFL defensive back Chris Payton-Jones has died after a car crash in Florida. He was 30.
According to Fox News, Payton-Jones, who spent parts of four seasons in the NFL and later played in the XFL and UFL, was killed Saturday night, April 11, in Gainesville, per a statement from the Florida Highway Patrol.
Investigators said he was driving eastbound in the westbound lanes of State Road 24 when his sedan collided head-on with a pickup truck. The impact caused his vehicle to overturn and catch fire.
He was pronounced dead at the scene, while the three people in the pickup suffered minor injuries.
A Jacksonville native, Payton-Jones built a football career that stretched far beyond his days as an undrafted prospect. Known as Chris Jones during his time at Nebraska, he appeared in 26 games over three seasons with the Cornhuskers and earned All-Big Ten honorable mention honors in 2016 after recording three interceptions, 10 pass breakups, and 37 tackles.
A knee injury sidelined him for part of his senior year, but he still drew interest from NFL teams after going undrafted in 2018.
He signed first with the Detroit Lions before eventually landing with the Arizona Cardinals, where he made his NFL debut in November 2018.
Over the next several years, Payton-Jones bounced between the Cardinals, Lions, Minnesota Vikings, and Tennessee Titans, appearing in 29 regular-season games and recording 48 tackles and seven pass breakups.
He later joined the Las Vegas Raiders during the 2022 offseason before continuing his career with the Seattle Sea Dragons of the XFL and the St. Louis Battlehawks in the UFL.
Even as he moved from team to team, Payton-Jones developed a reputation as a relentless worker. His former high school coach, Ada Geis, said that “the kid never missed a workout, never missed practice, and never wanted to come off the field.”
Geis added, “Everyone loved him. He was always unbelievably positive. I’ve never heard that kid ever say anything negative about anyone or anything.”
The UFL released a statement calling Payton-Jones “a beloved teammate and leader in the locker room” whose career reflected “hard work, determination, and resilience.” Former teammates across the NFL also shared tributes on social media, including several players from his brief stint with the Lions.
Payton-Jones retired from football in January and had recently shifted his attention to content creation full-time. His sports-focused YouTube brand, Flashflix, had surpassed 1 million views, and he had also become a mentor to young photographers and videographers trying to break into sports media.
