Former Kansas City Chiefs offensive lineman Jordan Devey has died at 38, according to a social media post from his wife, Linsey Devey.
Linsey Devey shared the news Thursday night and included the message he left her: “We’ll talk soon.” In her Instagram post, she wrote, “Today would have been our 15th year anniversary,” and added, “We have filled the walls of our homes and hearts with countless memories, joys, struggles, and triumphs.
“We brought 4 beautiful children into this world that have your eyes, freckles, and compassion. You were our hero and our hearts ache in your absence.
“We love you. We miss you. And as you said in your last words to me, ‘we’ll talk soon.’”
A GoFundMe page linked by Linsey Devey said he took his own life.
Devey’s football path was anything but ordinary. As a child, he dealt with Osgood-Schlatter disease, a painful knee condition that kept him off the field for several years after eighth grade.
While sidelined, he turned to the tuba and eventually joined the American Fork High School marching band in Utah. He performed at President George W.
Bush’s Inaugural Parade in 2005, and that tuba talent became part of his football identity everywhere he went in the NFL.
After high school, Devey spent two years in Costa Rica as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Once his knee problems eased, the 6-foot-7, 250-pound lineman walked on at Snow College in Utah, then finished at the University of Memphis before entering the NFL as an undrafted free agent in 2013.
He played for six NFL teams - the Buffalo Bills, Baltimore Ravens, New England Patriots, San Francisco 49ers, Raiders and Chiefs. He was with the Patriots when they won the Super Bowl in 2015, and he signed with the Chiefs in 2016.
After football, Devey and his family spent time in Johnson County, where he and his business partners opened two California-based Cookie Co. locations in 2023. Both are now closed. At the time, he told The Star, “Kansas City loves Kansas City,” and added, “There’s so many big things going on here.”
Devey later became a well-known youth football coach in Eagle, Idaho, and the reaction to his death quickly spread through that community. The Eagle Stallions football team posted a tribute on Instagram, saying, “There are people who leave a legacy far greater than wins and losses. Jordan Devey was one of those people,” and calling him an “incredible mentor, coach, and friend.”
Robert Gillis, a member of the Eagle City Council, also wrote on Facebook about meeting Devey at a city council hearing in May. Gillis said he learned that the “hopeful homeowner was an Eagle High School Football Coach named Jordan Devey,” and later added, “I am a huge advocate for mental health and wellness.”
He continued, “We never know the internal demons and stressors that people in our sphere are facing. They can put on happy faces and act as though they have everything handled, and then something like this occurs.
“It is not a unique issue with any special demographic or economic group in our society. Suicide has no boundaries and it has unfortunately touched a lot of lives in our country, state, valley, and city.
It is something we may not be able to prevent, but we have to do better to keep trying. Every life is worth saving.”
Other tributes also poured in online, including messages from Breiden Fehoko and Keaton, both urging people to check on friends and family. Memphis Recruits also remembered Devey, noting that he finished his college career at Memphis in 2012, started 24 straight games there and played all 1,568 snaps on offense, then went on to an eight-year NFL career and a Super Bowl XLIX title with the Patriots.
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