RIP Gaines Adams

DE Gaines Adams, the fourth overall pick in the 2007 Draft by the Buccaneers (recently traded to the Bears for a 2010 2nd rounder), has died from an enlarged heart.

"Gaines Adams, the former Clemson star and current defensive end for the Chicago Bears, has died in Greenwood County.Greenwood County Coroner Jim Coursey said 26-year-old Gaines Adams was taken to the emergency room at Self Regional Hospital, where he was pronounced dead Sunday morning.Coursey said Adams appeared to be in perfect health.“It’s crazy,” Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher said. “I didn’t know him that well because he came in during the middle of the season. But I did know him. I still saw him every day when I went into work. It’s just weird.“I had a teammate die when I was in college. You just don’t know how to handle it. It’s just sad, man. It’s a bad deal.”Gaines Adams, the former Clemson star and current defensive end for the Chicago Bears, has died in Greenwood County.Greenwood County Coroner Jim Coursey said 26-year-old Gaines Adams was taken to the emergency room at Self Regional Hospital, where he was pronounced dead Sunday morning.Coursey said Adams appeared to be in perfect health."

It could be the result of a few things, or it could be completely random. Len Bias was a similar stud draft pick by the Celtics in the late 1980’s who died from it, but his was brought on by drug use and there is no evidence of that here. It could just be a birth condition.

More on this as it develops, this post will be updated over time. May he rest in peace, and our thoughts are with his family.

UPDATE: According to what I’m reading on WireUpdate, Gaines had no prior heart conditions that were recorded. “That were recorded” might be the operative phrase there.