During a kick return back in 2007, former Houston Texans defensive tackle Cedric Killings fractured his vertebra after he collided head-on with former NFL wide receiver Roy Hall.
That was Week 3 against the Indianapolis Colts in the second quarter, as it ended his pro career for good. Coming off the stretcher, Killings reportedly had numbness in his lower extremities and couldn’t move them, as we have seen something similar being handled on the field this past season with Tua Tagovailoa (concussion) and Damar Hamlin (cardiac arrest) as more recent examples but different circumstances for both. But the former NFL defensive tackle had “numbness coming and going in his lower back area,” according to a Houston Methodist Hospital spokesperson, despite showing up at practice five days after the injury.
Former Houston Texans linebacker, now current head coach DeMeco Ryans said “Everybody stood up, started clapping for him. It was just an amazing, amazing thing to see him walk through those doors. Everyone was pumped up.”
Former Houston Texans head coach Gary Kubiak called him “one of the toughest players I’ve ever cut” when they had to let him go prior to the 2007 season before re-signing him two weeks later.
During the 2007 season, the NFL decided to change its rules due to wedge-related neck injuries that ended multiple careers for former players, especially on kickoffs. It now states that once the ball has been kicked, “no more than two receiving team players can be within 2 yards of each other on the same yard line.”
Former Houston Texans special teams coach Joe Marciano at the time said the rule is “shoulder pad to shoulder pad.”
Marciano stated, “Everybody else has to be 3 yards away,” and said this about the kickoff rule, “So we’re telling our guys 4 yards to stay out of any gray area. The penalty is just too severe to take chances.”
It will be a 15-yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct if there is a violation of this kickoff spacing rule to this day, as former Houston Texans wide receiver Harry Williams also experience something similar in the same season.
Killings, after he retired, was then an assistant coach at a high school in Miami, where he lived with his wife and three children before passing from pancreatic cancer at age 45. His wife Shavon posted on Facebook on June 23 about her husband’s passing.
“My love, my best friend, my husband of 21 years is no longer physically with me but he lives in my heart and in the hearts of our 3 children. I’m comforted in knowing he is resting and no longer in pain, but I’m still at a loss and can’t believe this is real. If you’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting him then you already know how special he is. Just an all-around great person. I don’t just say this as his wife, it’s echoed by family, friends, and former teammates. It has been an honor to share life with him and to love and be loved by him. [Red heart] So grateful for it all. Love you for life.”
He was also a former four-time NCAA Division II All-American at Carson-Newman University back in the late 1990s.
“Cedric was a fantastic person, player, father, husband, teammate, and most importantly, a man of God,” said Carson-Newman head football coach Mike Clowney, who played with Killings during the 1996 season. “We are praying for and grieving with Cedric’s family during this difficult time.”
Killings signed as an undrafted free agent with the San Francisco 49ers back in 2000, to then sign one-year deals with teams like the Cleveland Browns, Carolina Panthers, Minnesota Vikings, and Washington Redskins, before the tragedy happened when he was with the Texans.
Killings played in 34 games and had 41 tackles in his eight-year career, including three sacks. He was inducted into the In 2018, he was inducted into the South Athletic Conference Hall of Fame to honor his play on defense in college.
This news comes in a week before the tragic death of former Houston Texans quarterback Ryan Mallett, as he drowned in an accident around Destin, Florida at the age of 35.
