Former NFL QB Tarvaris Jackson dies at 36 in car accident

Tarvaris Jackson, a longtime quarterback for the Vikings, Seahawks and Bills, was killed in a car accident on Sunday. Jackson was 36, and had been working as a quarterbacks coach at Tennessee State.

Jackson was driving on Sunday evening when his car hit a tree and overturned, Alabama state police told the Montgomery Advertiser. Police called it a single-car accident. TMZ published photographs of Jackson’s mangled Camaro on Monday.

Jackson played in the NFL from 2006-15, starting 34 games and throwing for 39 touchdowns. He was mostly a backup, including for the Seahawks’ Super Bowl-winning team in 2014. He was the full-time starter for the Vikings in 2007 and the Seahawks in 2011.

The car accident was in Alabama, according to multiple reports. Jackson was a Montgomery, Alabama native, and was preparing for his second season as an assistant coach with Tennessee State. He had started his coaching career in 2018 with Alabama State, where he was drafted out of in 2006.

Jackson was arrested in 2016 for pulling a gun on his wife, Lakitta, but charges were dropped and the couple remained married. The couple had three children.

He backed up Russell Wilson for the last three years of his NFL career, including a Super Bowl XLVIII win over the Broncos. (Jackson threw one pass in that game.) “TJack... you will be missed. Praying for your family...Love you man,” Wilson tweeted Monday.