List of gridiron football players who died during their careers

This is a list of players of gridiron football (American football and Canadian football) players who died while still on a team roster. Included are players in professional and college football who have died of any cause. For professional football players, the most common cause of death is vehicle crashes. For college players, the most common cause of death is in-game and practice injuries. Each player is listed with the team to which he was assigned at the time of his death, rather than the team with which he spent most of his career. Players who were free agents at the time of their death are not listed.

Team vehicle and plane crashes

 * Purdue: 14 members of football team were killed in a railroad collision (1903).
 * Northeastern Oklahoma A&M: 5 football players were killed in a head-on highway crash (1966).
 * Marshall: 37 members died in an airplane crash (1970).
 * Wichita State: most of the starting players and coaches, 31 in total, died in an airplane crash (1970).
 * Cal Poly Mustangs football team: 16 players and 6 others died in an airplane crash (1960).
 * Southwestern Oklahoma State: 4 football players were killed in a car crash (1996).