Aldon Smith's brain donated to CTE Center as family's attorneys investigate his death at age 36

San Francisco 49ers linebacker Aldon Smith (99) watches from the sideline during the second half of an NFL preseason football game against the Denver Broncos Aug. 17, 2014, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

SAN FRANCISCO — The family of former NFL star Aldon Smith is donating his brain to the Boston University CTE Center to research the long-term effects of repetitive brain injuries following his sudden death at age 36.

Smith died Saturday hours after delivering pizzas to a homeless charity in the San Francisco Bay area.

No cause of death was given and Smith’s family has hired attorneys Harry Daniels, Bakari Sellers and Wayne Kendall to investigate Smith’s death.

“As with anyone who dies so suddenly at such a young age, we understand that there is a great deal of interest in and speculation about Aldon Smith’s passing and we intend to get to the bottom of it,” the attorneys said in a statement released Tuesday. ”To that end, we have taken a number of steps including sending his brain to Boston where medical experts will examine it for CTE as well as other damage caused by years of concussions and additional trauma.

“In the meantime we simply ask you to keep Aldon’s family in our prayers and respect their privacy as they struggle to come to grips with this terrible loss.”

Smith’s friend, Amir Shirazi, told the San Francisco Chronicle, that he found Smith slumped over in the front passenger seat of his car after delivering the pizzas on Saturday. Smith was taken to a hospital and was declared dead.

“He was a creative mind, so smart, so fierce, so real, so powerful, his presence, his passion and his aura meant a lot to me as a brother and I wish I could’ve did more to help him and pray to God he doesn’t have to hurt anymore,” his former teammate, Anthony Dixon, wrote on social media.

Smith was drafted by the 49ers with the seventh pick out of Missouri in 2011 and made an immediate impact on the team, helping San Francisco snap a playoff drought and reach the NFC title game his first three seasons with one trip to a Super Bowl.

He had 14 sacks as a rookie when he finished second to Von Miller in voting for the AP Defensive Rookie of the Year and had a franchise-record 19 1/2 sacks in 2012 when he was named a first-team All-Pro.

His 33 1/2 sacks in his first two seasons are the most in NFL history. He kept that pace up with 4 1/2 sacks in the first three games in 2013 before the off-field issues started with an arrest for DUI and a stint in rehab for substance abuse that sidelined him for five games.

He was released by San Francisco in August 2015 after another drunken driving charge — his fifth arrest in three years. He signed with Oakland just before the start of the 2015 season and had 3 1/2 sacks in nine games before being suspended again.

Smith applied for reinstatement to the NFL in 2016, but was not allowed back initially. The Raiders released him in 2018 following a domestic violence arrest. A plea agreement was reached in that case.

He eventually was reinstated in 2020 and played 16 games for Dallas that season and had five sacks.

He signed with Seattle the next season but was arrested again for battery and was released in training camp. He served a six-month jail sentence for DUI in 2023 and never played again in the NFL.

Smith finished his career with 52 1/2 sacks in 75 games.

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Josh Dubow, The Associated Press