Devon Wylie, a 35-year-old wide receiver for Fresno State, passed away, but his cause of death has not been made public. Wylie, a native of Sacramento, was an important member of the Bulldogs’ special teams unit. In his senior year, he accomplished 29 punt returns for 446 yards and two touchdowns. Before quitting football in 2016, he had a brief stint in the Canadian Football League and played in the NFL, mostly with the Kansas City Chiefs. His family sent out a touching note in his memory on the eve of his passing.
The wide receiver’s passing was announced on social media on Monday by a family member. The post began, “We don’t have the capacity to reach out to everyone in this hard time, so we wanted to make this post so people who knew and loved Devon could learn of his passing,” and then it painted a lovely picture of his joyful spirit and kind soul. In addition to being a skilled football player, Wylie also had a compassionate side to him off the field. He was known for “making people laugh” and entertaining everyone with his guitar playing, silly jokes and voices, backflips, banter, Star Wars discussions, Halo nights, and other antics.
Fresno State mourned the passing of their beloved athlete by posting on platform X, formerly Twitter. “Forever a Bulldog,” the post read, “Our thoughts are with the Wylie family during this difficult time.” Numerous fellow NFL players joined in with Fresno State special teams coordinator John Baxter putting up his perspective on the “tragic loss” platform X. “What a great Bulldog, brother, son and teammate. We love you Devon Wylie!” wrote the coach. Wylie while being a great individual popular amongst friends and teammates, was also an immaculate athlete on the football field.
At Fresno State, Wylie was a standout receiver and special teams player, with 98 receptions for 1,327 yards and eight touchdowns. Before entering the professional ranks, his senior season demonstrated his versatility with two touchdowns on punt returns, earning him a spot on the third team of the All-American team. The Kansas City Chiefs selected Devon Wylie in the fourth round of the 2012 NFL Draft after he demonstrated remarkable speed and route-running ability. Despite having six receptions for the Chiefs in six games, he was cut before the 2013 campaign officially began.
