Kasey Redfern, a former NFL punter who played for the Detroit Lions and Atlanta Falcons, has died at age 35. His death was confirmed by Jonathan Lawson, chief investigator at the Spartanburg County Coroner’s Office, who told reporters Friday that the office had recently been notified of Redfern’s passing. Lawson did not provide further details.
Redfern had been battling central nervous system (CNS) lymphoma since May 2023, when doctors found a tumor on his brain, according to a GoFundMe campaign set up for him more than three years ago.
His wife, Lauryl, wrote on Facebook last month that Redfern, whom she called “the love of my life,” had moved toward hospice care after his condition worsened over the summer.
“It seems that everything he’s been experiencing over the last couple weeks — the falls, extreme decline in short term memory, random throwing up, and some other things are likely due to cognitive decline caused by neurotoxicity from all of the treatments he’s had over the last 3.5 years,” she wrote. “His poor brain has had all it can take treatment wise so we want to make sure that he can be as comfortable as possible.”
She added that if Redfern “makes it to Heaven soon, he will have it better than the rest of us and for that all I can do is be thankful and joyful and filled with peace (and a lot of jealousy) that He will be WHOLE and in glory with our Savior — the best place we could ask to be.”
Redfern played college football at Wofford, serving as the Terriers’ kicker and punter from 2010 to 2013. He signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars as an undrafted free agent in 2014 and later had stints with the Chargers, Panthers, Browns, Lions, Cowboys and Falcons. Over his career he appeared in four regular-season NFL games, averaging 42.1 yards per punt.
Rob Greene, Redfern’s former teammate and roommate at Wofford and now co-defensive coordinator at Texas Tech, paid tribute to him in May when he encouraged his followers to support Redfern’s fight against cancer, calling him a “great man, husband, father, and friend.”
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