Tyler Sash Autopsy Update: What The Initial Findings Say

With many questions still unanswered, a preliminary autopsy on former New York Giants and University of Iowa safety Tyler Sash showed there was “no acute trauma,” the Iowa State Medical Examiner's office said Wednesday, according to the Des Moines Register. Foul play is not suspected, authorities said.

The manner and cause of death for Sash, who died Tuesday at age 27, has not been determined. Further laboratory testing is needed, the medical examiner’s office said. One thing has been determined, however: There is no evidence that an external force killed him, authorities said.

Rumors about a suspected overdose or suicide have run rampant. Jeff Woody, a former Iowa running back who met Sash on a “handful of occasions” made a similar assumption in a touching blog post.

Woody wrote that Sash might have struggled with his identity after he was cut from the Giants in 2013, two years after the team won Super Bowl XLV. A drug test that year found that the Iowa great had Adderall -- a psychostimulant drug used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) -- in his system. He claimed he didn’t know it was illegal to use the medicine in the NFL if he had a prescription for it.

Woody said not having an identity beyond sports could be perilous. “If I identify myself as athlete and the sport is taken away from me, I am no longer me. I am no longer worthy to be myself. I have a hole where I used to be,” he blogged. “Rest in peace, Tyler Sash. Every piece of you.”

Many of Sash’s former teammates, from Iowa and the Giants, took to Twitter to send their condolences. Giants coach Tom Coughlin also issued a statement. "The players really enjoyed Tyler Sash," he said. "So I'm dumbfounded by this, and I'm very sad."

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