CINCINNATI – Former Bengals linebacker Thomas Howard was killed in an automobile accident early Monday morning, according to multiple reports out of Northern California.
The accident involved Howard driving a BMW at more than 100 mph on Interstate 880 near Oakland. The car slammed into the back of a large rig truck, flipped over the center divider of the interstate and into an oncoming Honda CRV.
“The BMW was traveling northbound at a high rate of speed,” Sgt. Robert Cullinan of the California Highway Patrol told KTVU-TV. “It rear-ended a big rig, rolled over several times, bouncing over the center divider wall and collided head-on with the CRV in the other lane.”
Howard and the driver of the Honda CRV, reported to be a 65-year-old man, died in the crash, which disintegrated both cars.
Howard, 30, had been released by Atlanta last week after playing in two games this season with the Falcons. He signed with the Bengals at the start of training camp in 2011 as a free agent following the end of the NFL lockout. Howard ended up leading the Bengals in tackles that season as they earned a playoff berth. Howard played in one game for the Bengals in 2012 before suffering a torn ACL during practice prior to a Week 2 game against Cleveland.
The Bengals worked Howard out prior to the start of this season but did not sign him. He joined the Falcons on Oct. 22.
Howard went to the University of Texas-El Paso as a walk-on, earned his scholarship and was selected in the second round of the 2006 NFL Draft by Oakland. He started 62 of his first 64 games with the Raiders through the 2009 season, including intercepting six passes and returning two of them for touchdowns in 2007, but fell out of favor with the club and played mostly special teams in 2010.
He found a home with the Bengals and defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer, as many players cast aside by other teams have, and was a catalyst for the 2011 defense.
Howard’s father, Tom Howard, was an All-American at Texas Tech and played nine seasons in the NFL with Kansas City and St. Louis. Then-Bengals linebackers coach Jeff FitzGerald said in an interview with the Cincinnati Enquirer in 2011 that it was easy to see the influence of Tom Howard on his son.
“He takes coaching great. He’s a great guy to coach,” said FitzGerald. “He’s very much interested in learning how to do things the way we do them here both schematically and technique-wise. He has fit in beautifully, and his attitude and how he goes about his daily work is a true pro.”
