Tarvaris Jackson, last Seahawks starting QB before Russell Wilson, dies at age 36
The quarterback Pete Carroll thought “the world of” for what he did for the Seahawks has died.
Tarvaris Jackson, Seattle’s last full-time starter before Russell Wilson, died Sunday night in a car accident at age 36. Tennessee State University, where Jackson was the quarterbacks coach, confirmed the death to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport Monday.
According to ESPN’s Courtney Cronin, Jackson was involved in a single-car crash at 8:50 p.m. Sunday near his native Montgomery, Ala. The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said Jackson was killed when the 2012 Chevrolet Camaro he was driving left the road, struck a tree and overturned.
Carroll reacted online Monday morning: “Tarvaris Jackson was a beloved teammate, competitor, and Seahawk. He will be deeply missed. So heartbroken by the news of his passing and sending our condolences to his family and friends. We love you forever @7tjackson”
Wilson had his own online tribute.
“TJack... you will be missed. Praying for your family...Love you man,” Wilson posted on his Twitter account Monday. He included an emoji of a broken heart.
Jackson started 14 games for Carroll and the Seahawks in 2011. He was the team’s QB between Matt Hasselbeck and Wilson.
Jackson made his last nine starts in that 2011 season, Carroll’s second overhauling the entire franchise, with a pectoral muscle that was 50 percent torn. Jackson got that while beating the New York Giants in early October of that year. He missed one game, came in and threw 40 passes trying to rally Seattle past Cincinnati in another, then started the last nine games of that season. He constantly made motions with his throwing arm between plays, as if trying to push it back into his chest.
Jackson threw for 3,091 yards that season with one good arm. The Seahawks finished 7-9 and did not qualify for the playoffs. It was one of the two seasons in the decade Seattle did not qualify for the postseason under Carroll.
The following spring the team signed Matt Flynn as a free agent from Green Bay to start, then drafted Wilson in the third round. Wilson wowed everyone in the organization pretty much from the first day of rookie minicamp in the spring of 2012. That was the end for Jackson—and for Flynn—with the Seahawks.
The team traded Jackson to Buffalo at the end of the 2012 preseason.
Wilson, of course, has gone on to be a two-time Super Bowl starter, the only quarterback to win a Super Bowl for Seattle, and the richest player in the league with a $140 million contract extension.
“Tarvaris, all that we’ve ever seen from him is that he’s a great competitor and a perfect guy to have on your team,” Carroll said when he traded Jackson. “Because of our situation and the guys that we have, he deserves the chance to be playing. ... He did a great job for us and provided everything you’d ever want to see out of a competitor on your team.
“We think the world of him.”
So much so, Carroll signed him back for the 2013 and ‘14 Super Bowl seasons to be Wilson’s backup, and again in 2015, even though he never started another game in the NFL. Jackson left the league following that ‘15 season for Seattle. He was 17-17 as an NFL starter for Minnesota (10-10) and the Seahawks (7-7).
In 2016 he reportedly told a judge in Florida he was broke and did not have money for an attorney to defend him in a case of alleged aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
He became the quarterbacks coach at Alabama State, then got the same job at Tennessee State before the 2019 season.
His biography at Tennessee State says he is survived by his wife Lakitta Jackson and three children: Tarvaris, Takayla and Tyson.
This story was originally published April 13, 2020 at 8:05 AM.
