Longtime NFL assistant coach Greg Knapp died Thursday from injuries he sustained in a bike accident last weekend. He was 58 years old.
Knapp was biking near his home in Danville, Calif., on Saturday afternoon when he was struck by a vehicle at a busy intersection. He suffered major head and body injuries and never regained consciousness. Knapp was surrounded by his mother, wife, three daughters and his brother when he died, the family said in a statement.
“While his family, friends and players still had so much to learn from him and desperately wished they had more time with him, God called an audible and wanted to go over the game plan directly with him. It will certainly be a masterpiece, just like Greg!” the statement ended.
He died at the John Muir Health Medical Center in Walnut Creek, Calif.
“We’ll miss him,” Clancy Barone, friend and Chicago Bears assistant told the Sacramento Bee. “Knapper was so sincere in everything he did. … I know Knapper. He wouldn’t want any of us to feel sorry for him, to slow down. He’d demand that we continue, that we live life and that when you go out to dinner, order the most expensive steak and the best bottle of wine because that’s the Knapper charm and life is good.”
Knapp was preparing to report to his first training camp with the New York Jets as their passing game coordinator.
“On behalf of the entire Jets organization, I extend our deepest sympathies to the Knapp family,” Jets owner Woody Johnson said in a statement. “In his short time with us, Greg had an immediate influence on those who had the pleasure of spending the smallest amount of time with him.”
Knapp was a member of the Denver Broncos’ coaching staff in 2015 when Peyton Manning guided the franchise to a Super Bowl victory.
Knapp has also worked for the Texans, 49ers, Falcons, Seahawks and Raiders in a 25-year NFL career that stretches back to 1997.
–Field Level Media