Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office reports that Ryan Mallett, a former quarterback at Arkansas who went on to play seven seasons in the NFL, drowned on a Florida beach on Tuesday. He was 35.
According to the sheriff’s office, emergency personnel was summoned to a beach in Destin, Florida, at 2:12 p.m. local time, to assist a group of swimmers who had been disoriented while attempting to return to shore from the Gulf of Mexico along a sandbar. A man named Mallett was one of those rescued; he was unresponsive when he was taken from the water and subsequently declared dead at a nearby hospital.
In a website statement titled “It is with great sadness that we share the loss of Coach Ryan Mallett,” the White Hall school system in Arkansas, where Mallett coached high school football, expressed their condolences for the passing of their former coach. “Coach Mallett was a dedicated teacher and coach. Please keep his loved ones, players, students, coaches, and the whole White Hall School District family in your thoughts and prayers.
Mallett spent one year at Michigan before moving to Arkansas, where he spent the next two years throwing for 7,493 yards and 62 touchdowns. In 2009, as a redshirt sophomore, he led the Razorbacks to an 8-5 record and a victory in the Liberty Bowl under coach Bobby Petrino, earning the team’s MVP award for offense.
In 2010, his greatest year, he completed 64.7 percent of his passes for 3,869 yards, 32 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions, good for second-team All-SEC accolades for the second year in a row. In 2010, he received seven percent of the vote but came in at position seven.
In a tweet, the Arkansas football team expressed their “shock and sadness” after the loss of Ryan Mallett. He was a legend at the University of Arkansas, and his talent and charisma were both out of this world. He piloted the team to some of its most successful runs in recent history. His friends and family will miss him dearly. His family, especially his mother Debbie, is in our prayers.
In the 2011 NFL draft, Mallett was picked by the New England Patriots in the third round, with pick number 74. The Patriots selected Mallett as a backup for Tom Brady because, as head coach Bill Belichick said at the time, you can never have enough depth at quarterback.
“We just felt like he was a good player,” Belichick added. He dominated in both high school and university. He’s a very remarkable person to converse with.
Belichick explained that the Patriots had been keeping up with Mallett’s collegiate career from the time he enrolled at Michigan in 2007 until he went to Arkansas due to a change in offensive philosophy on the part of the new Wolverines coaching staff. Belichick observed Mallett’s pro-style operation in Petrino’s scheme at Arkansas, stating of him in 2011: “He’s pretty far along relative to some other quarterbacks we’ve seen.”
Belichick released a statement on Tuesday expressing his condolences to Mallett’s family and “the many people whose lives he touched,” calling his death “extremely saddening.”
We lost a fantastic man,” Brady posted on social media. Please accept my sincere gratitude, Ryan.
As Brady’s backup in New England, Mallett only got 24 snaps in total because Brady seldom came out of games because of his longevity. until the 2014 season, he was traded to the Houston Texans, where he spent two seasons, during which he appeared in nine games and made six starts until being released in October 2015. After that, he joined the Baltimore Ravens, where he played in a total of eight games (including two starts) until being released in 2017.
“Ryan was a part of us,” Ravens head coach John Harbaugh stated in a tweet. I’ll never forget how much he cared about his football team and how much fun he had every day.
Mallett led Houston to a 23-7 victory over Cleveland in his first career start on November 16, 2014. His first professional touchdown pass was to defensive end J.J. Watt and covered 2 yards.
“Horrible news to read about Ryan Mallett,” Watt tweeted. Too suddenly taken from us. Have a peaceful rest, brother.
Mallett played in 21 games for the NFL, starting 8. In the NFL, he threw for 1,835 yards and nine touchdowns on 190 attempts, but he also threw 10 interceptions.
After starting his coaching career as an assistant at Mountain Home High School in Arkansas in 2022, Mallett was appointed as the head football coach at White Hall High School in his home state the following year.
As reported by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Mallett remarked, “I always knew I was going to coach” after being chosen White Hall’s head coach. For me, it’s second nature. Yes, I get it. I understand how everything functions, and I like football to boot. The opportunity to instill good values in young minds is rewarding.
FAQs
Q1. Where in Florida did Ryan Mallett drown?
Ryan Mallett, a former NFL quarterback, drowned on a beach near Destin on Tuesday. The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office reports that at 2:00 p.m., a group of swimmers along a sandbar was having trouble returning to shore. The 35-year-old Mallett who was rescued from the sea was unresponsive and not breathing.
Q2. Did Ryan Mallett pass away?
Ryan Mallett, a former NFL quarterback, drowned on a beach in Florida at the age of 35. According to the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office, Mallet slipped under when a group of individuals was trying to swim back to shore near Destin. When lifeguards rescued him, he was unconscious and not breathing.
