Rob Bironas tried out for Lions days before death
Rob Bironas tried out as a kicker for the Detroit Lions last week and appeared to be in a normal state mentally, a person with knowledge of the situation told USA TODAY Sports.
The person, who asked to remain anonymous due to the sensitive nature of the case, said the former Tennessee Titans kicker showed no signs of any issues that would have prevented the Lions from signing him but that no contract was imminent before he died in a one-vehicle crash in Nashville Saturday night.
Bironas, who had been practicing for weeks at a local high school, told friends after the tryout that he was optimistic of being signed as early as this week. Monday, the Lions signed former Philadelphia Eagles kicker Alex Henery — one of three kickers who'd tried out, including Bironas — to replace struggling rookie Nate Freese.
Bironas, 36, lost control of his white SUV Saturday night and it crashed into a line of trees about a mile from his home. The car landed upside-down in a drainage culvert and he was pronounced dead at a Nashville hospital. Witnesses told The Tennessean Tuesday that he threatened them at an intersection and tried to run them off the road, dovetailing with the report of a woman who said a day earlier that Bironas had tried to run her and her husband off the road before his own crash.
Connor Fraley, 20, a Belmont University student, said he was a passenger in a pickup truck driving behind Bironas when he and others in the truck noticed a burning smell coming from Bironas' vehicle.
"His window was down," Fraley said, "and we pulled up and I said, 'Hey man, just a head's up, something's burning from your exhaust. Your exhaust smells horrible, just wanted to let you know.' He looked over at me and said, 'I'm going to kill everybody in your (expletive) vehicle.' It was so random, so bizarre, I was like, 'What?' And he said the exact same thing again."
Fraley said the Ford F-150 in which he was riding turned left and Bironas followed. He said another Belmont student was driving the truck, that he was in the passenger-side front seat and two female students were in the back. Fraley said they sped up to get away, but Bironas sped after them.
At one point, "he tried to sideswipe the vehicle and missed us by a foot," Fraley said. "The girls in the back seat were starting to freak out because he was swerving on the road in between lanes, all over the place. We had no idea who he was and why he was trying to harm us. It was a fight-or-flight situation and, unfortunately, we had to take flight at about 110 miles per hour. It was very scary."
Bironas married Rachel Bradshaw, the daughter of NFL Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw, in June. She called 911 to report him missing Saturday, though he'd been gone only a short while.
"He came home and we were watching a movie," she says on the call. "And he just left. … He drove away and we haven't seen him since."
The dispatcher asked when she'd last talked to him. She said two hours. The dispatcher asked if there had been an argument. Bradshaw said no. The dispatcher asked if her husband had any mental or medical issues. "No, he doesn't," she said.
An autopsy on Bironas was conducted on Monday, and the body was released to the funeral home. It could be several weeks before results of a toxicology report are available.
Bironas was released by the Titans in March after nine seasons and 1,032 points, second in franchise history. He made 85.7% of his field goal attempts, fourth most accurate in NFL history. Police continue to investigate.
Wyatt writes for The (Nashville) Tennessean