Former Titans Kicker Rob Bironas Dies in Car Accident
Very sad news out of Tennessee this weekend.
Rob Bironas, former kicker for the Tennessee Titans, died Saturday night in a car accident near his Nashville home. According to the AP, he lost control of his 2009 GMC Yukon Denali just after 11:00 p.m. and was speeding when he went off the road and hit a number of trees before coming to a stop.
Bironas was tended to emergency personnel on the scene before being transported to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. He was just 36 years old.
Having spent nine seasons with the Titans, Bironas was released in March. Though he worked out for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the offseason and the Detroit Lions earlier in the week, he was still a free agent at the time of his death.
In June Bironas married Rachel Bradshaw, the daughter of Hall of Fame Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw. An analyst for Fox NFL Sunday, Bradshaw was noticeably absent from the network’s coverage on Sunday.
Per the AP:
Bironas was the fourth most-accurate kicker in NFL history, connecting on 85.7 percent of his kicks (239 of 279). Only David Akers made more field goals (247) between 2005 and 2013 than Bironas. For kickers with 100 or more field goals since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger, Bironas ranked third making 75.2 percent of his kicks from 40 yards or longer (94 of 125).
He finished as the Titans’ second all-time leading scorer with 1,032 points, and he set a franchise record scoring triple digits in seven straight seasons. He also set an NFL record in 2011 in hitting a field goal from at least 40 yards in 10 consecutive games.
A death like this is always difficult to absorb, with Titans quarterback Jake Locker noting, “It’s tough to see a guy like that die young. “Rob was a real charismatic guy – always put a smile on people’s faces. He had the opportunity to restart his life when he got married. You feel for his loved ones.”
On Sunday he was remember by a number of his former Titans teammates.
