John Fitzgerald Thierry (September 4, 1971 – November 24, 2017) was a professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

player who was selected by the Chicago Bears in the 1st round (11th overall pick) of the

1994 NFL Draft The 1994 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 24–25, 1994, at the Marriott Ma ...

. A 6' 4", 263 lb

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

from Alcorn State University, Thierry was moved to

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formations over the years have substantially changed how the position is ...

and played in nine NFL seasons from 1994 to 2002. He was selected second in the 1999

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (A ...

expansion draft An expansion draft, in professional sports, occurs when a sports league decides to create one or more new expansion teams or franchises. This occurs mainly in North American sports. One of the ways of stocking the new team or teams is an expansio ...

, following

Jim Pyne James M. Pyne (born 23 November 1971) is an American businessman and former professional football player who is the co-founder of Wheels Up. He has also served as the chief partnership officer of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. As a former American ...

. He finished his career with the Atlanta Falcons after recurring shoulder injuries. During his career Thierry played in 131 games and started 70 of them recording 33.5 sacks and 158 tackles with 7 fumble recoveries. Thierry died on November 24, 2017, of a heart attack at the age of 46.

References

1971 births 2017 deaths African-American players of American football American football defensive ends Alcorn State Braves football players Chicago Bears players Cleveland Browns players Green Bay Packers players Atlanta Falcons players Players of American football from Houston Ed Block Courage Award recipients {{defensive-lineman-1970s-stub