Former NFL player Howard dies in car crash

Former NFL linebacker Thomas Howard died early Monday morning following a high-speed car crash on a freeway in Oakland. The Alameda County Coroner's office said the 30-year-old Howard was one of two men who died in the crash Monday. The driver of the other car, 64-year-old Zeng Long Liu of Hayward, also died in the crash. Howard was driving a speeding BMW when he hit a big rig, flipped over the center divider and went head-on into a Honda traveling on the other side around 1 a.m., said Officer Daniel Hill, a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol. Witnesses say the car was traveling at speeds between 100 mph to 110 mph as the car overturned, crossed a median and ended up in the southbound lanes of the freeway, where it sideswiped another car before landing on top of the Honda, Hill said. Hill said that alcohol is not being ruled out as a possible cause of the accident. Howard played eight years in the NFL after being drafted by the Oakland Raiders in the second round out of Texas-El Paso in 2006. He was most recently with Atlanta before getting released last week after playing two games this season. Howard played his first five seasons with the Raiders and two seasons with Cincinnati. "Words really can't describe how I'm feeling right now," former Raiders teammate Kirk Morrison wrote on his Instagram account. "To get that dreaded phone call and hear someone tell you that one of your best friends is no longer with us is hard to grasp. The feeling of shock and disbelief can be unbearable at times but all I can remember is all the good times that we had. ... I didn't lose a best friend or former teammate, I truly lost a brother today in Thomas Howard."