BALTIMORE — Former NFL receiver Jacoby Jones, whose 108-yard kickoff return in 2013 remains the longest touchdown in Super Bowl history, has died. He was 40.
The Houston Texans, Jones’ team for the first five seasons of his professional football career, announced his death on Sunday. In a statement released by the NFL Players Association, his family said he died at his home in New Orleans. A cause of death was not given.
Jones played in the NFL from 2007-15, spending time with the Texans, Baltimore Ravens, San Diego Chargers and Pittsburgh Steelers. He made several huge plays for the Ravens during their most recent Super Bowl title season.
Jones was a key part of Baltimore’s “Mile High Miracle” in a playoff game against the host Denver Broncos in January 2013. He caught a 70-yard touchdown pass with 31 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter to tie the score, and the Ravens eventually won in double overtime.
In the Super Bowl that postseason against the San Francisco 49ers, Jones caught a 56-yard touchdown pass thrown by eventual game MVP Joe Flacco. Jones later raced 108 yards to the end zone to open the second half and give Baltimore a 28-6 lead. The Ravens held on for a 34-31 victory.
That edition of the Super Bowl was played in New Orleans, where Jones grew up before playing NCAA Division II football at Lane, a historically Black college in Jackson, Tennessee. He earned All-Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference recognition his final three seasons with the Dragons.
“My favorite football play was when Jacoby was talking to his mom in the end zone, just before a late-game kickoff return against the Vikings in a snowstorm shootout. Jacoby then raced to catch the ball and run it back for a touchdown,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said in a statement released Sunday. “My favorite Jacoby personal moment was every time I saw his smiling face full of joy.”
Jones was an All-Pro first-team selection as a kick returner for the 2012 season. Shortly after that, he appeared on the reality TV program “Dancing with the Stars.”
“Jacoby was one of the most fun-loving teammates and people I’ve ever been around,” former Texans pass-rushing star J.J. Watt wrote on social media. “Always dancing and laughing, with a permanent smile on his face. Gone far, far too soon.”
In April, Jones became coach of the Beaumont (Texas) Renegades, an indoor football team.
“What can be said about him as a football player is only scratching the surface of who he was as a man,” the Renegades said in a released statement. “When you needed something, he was there. When you called him, he answered. Didn’t matter if you were a family member, a close friend, player he coached, etc.”