“Appreciate dat bro needed to hear dat!! They gone feel us.” That was the last text LSU alum Kyren Lacy sent to his friend Amik Robertson. Nothing about it hinted at tragedy. It was just one of those late-night, heart-on-sleeve messages between good friends. Lacy had twelve days left until his name could have been called through the NFL Draft night halls. But what waited for him two days after his passing might’ve already been haunting the young talent in silence.

The passing of Kyren Lacy had the entire NFL world shaken and saddened. It’s a deep, raw grief that you could almost feel it in the air, like something heavy sitting on everyone’s chest. And in the middle of that heartbreak, Emmanuel Acho found a few words. On The Squeeze podcast, the former NFLer opened up about the emotional devastation, the pain, and the grief.

“You don’t know when your last moment will be with someone… So try to make sure that last moment is as valuable, as impactful, as loving, as joyful, as peaceful as possible… I would say tell the people that you love that you love them.” The weight of those words from Acho hit so hard, especially for those who’ve lost someone and now live in the silence of ‘if only I could have…’

Emmanuel urged people to check in with their loved ones and bother them even. “One of my favorite artists, Kirk Franklin, said, ‘Bother people today. Check on them so much that you bother them. It stuck with me.” The former Philly star believes that not every cry for help comes through a phone call. He reminds us that it’s us, brushing past strangers, sitting across from friends, passing by quiet pain without even noticing.

“It is you listening. It is me speaking… do not be dependent upon somebody on the opposite end of a phone.” Kyren Lacy’s absence now echoes louder in those quiet spaces Acho spoke about.

In the blink of an eye: Kyren Lacy’s tragic end

Kyren died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after a police chase in Texas. What led to this tragic passing was a series of events that unfolded quickly and tragically. On the evening of April 12, the Constable’s Office received a call from one of Lacy’s family members. They reported that he had shot a gun into the ground. Kyren had left the area before the authorities could arrive.

The 24-year-old was driving a car when police tried to stop his vehicle, and a pursuit ensued, stretching over several miles, until Lacy’s car crashed. As the officers approached Lacy’s car, they found a gunshot wound on his body and a handgun inside the car. They declared Kyren dead at the scene. The reports say that Kyren passed away in the early hours of Sunday, April 13. 

When the news of Kyren Lacy’s passing reached his friends and family, it felt unreal. One of his close friends, Rontrell Sandolph, penned a long, emotional post after losing his dear friend. “The dreams we had started to kick in, you making it to the NFL and me playing ball overseas!!! Our dreams were coming to reality… We talked and cried and laughed it off every day, bro!!! I can’t f*****g do this s**t without you!!!” reads a part of his post.

Condolences poured in from all over the football world. What stood out wasn’t just the sadness of losing a talented player but the deep sense of loss for a young man whose dreams were still taking shape.