Clark Haggans dead at 46: Former Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker and Super Bowl winner

Former Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker and Super Bowl XL champion Clark Haggans has passed away at age 46,  according to 93.7 The Fan’s Collin Dunlap. 

A cause of death has not yet been released, and it remains unclear where Haggans was when he died. A LexisNexis search found a Florida address for the former fifth-round pick. 

The California native played 13 NFL seasons, eight of which were spent in Pittsburgh.

His best season came in 2005, when he recorded a career-high nine sacks and dropped Seattle Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck in Pittsburgh’s 21-10 Super Bowl victory.

More recently, Haggans has been working as a Pittsburgh sports radio host. 

Ex-Steelers linebacker and Super Bowl XL champion Clark Haggans has passed away at age 46

Haggans battles with Bengals right tackle Willie Anderson, one of the best in the NFL, in 2004

Haggans will primarily be associated with Joey Porter Jr., his teammate and fellow outside linebacker with Colorado State and the Steelers. 

‘I was happy I was drafted – and to go and see Joey there with open arms,’ Haggans told Steelersnow.com in 2019. ‘They should have played that Reunited song.’ 

Drafted in 2000, one year after the Steelers took Porter, Haggans was playing regularly by his second season and began starting in his fifth, by which time he was one of the top pass rushers for legendary defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau.

Outside of an injury that sidelined him for three weeks, nearly everything came together for Haggans in 2005. He recorded sacks in each of his first four games, and ultimately took down Hasselbeck on the opening drive of Super Bowl XL – something that still resonates with Steelers fans. 

‘Clark Haggans’ life was obviously so much more than one Super Bowl or the game of football,’ team blogger Alex Kozora wrote on Twitter. ‘But he was a key piece to some great Steelers’ defenses. Nine sacks in 2005. Took down Matt Hasselbeck on the opening drive of SB 40.

‘Rest in Peace, Clark.’

Haggans looked back on the Super Bowl win with Steelersnow.com in 2019, saying he was grateful to win alongside Porter. 

‘A cool memory of course is winning the Super Bowl,’ Haggans said. ‘The coolest though was that the first dude I saw when the confetti fell was Joey. We would wig out when we won the Holiday Bowl at Colorado State – that was the greatest thing to us then. Here we were winning a Super Bowl together.’ 

Haggans (left), along with Joey Porter, gave Colorado State an elite pass rush in the late 1990s. He would later play for the Cardinals (right) and 49ers before retiring from the NFL in 2012