It's Time For Ex-NFL Players to Be Scared, Very Scared

Andre Waters.

Shane Dronett.

Now Dave Duerson.

This is at least the third suicide involving a former NFL player within the last five years, which qualifies as an epidemic, which means this is the continuation of a horror story with no end in sight.

Jessie Tuggle paused over the phone from his home in the Atlanta area, and then he cleared his throat.

"When a guy (such as Duerson, pictured right) suffers from this type of a problem, and he commits suicide, and he doesn't want to shoot himself in the head, because he wants to donate his brain to science, because he knows what kind of problem he is having, there's a lot going on there," said Tuggle, 45, now in his 11th year of retirement as a perennial Pro Bowl linebacker for the Atlanta Falcons. "Now when you hear all of that, it's pretty scary to me, because it's real, and as an ex-professional athlete, yeah, it opens my eyes up, because I'm having some of the same problems."

Asia Argento Charisma Carpenter Hilarie Burton Kelly Carlson Sara Foster