In the fifth round of the 2009 NFL Draft, the Chicago Bears selected Ohio State outside linebacker Marcus Freeman. Freeman was thought to be a very talented outside LB, and his size and speed were things that caught Lovie Smith's eye. Unfortunately, Freeman was among a very deep group of linebackers in Chicago, and was released just after preseason.
Fast forward almost a year, Freeman is retiring from the game, for the same medical reason as the late Gaines Adams. From Brad Biggs:
The Chicago Bears traded a second-round draft pick back in mid-October for defensive end Gaines Adams and three months later he died of cardiac arrest, the result of an enlarged heart. Less than a month later, Marcus Freeman, a linebacker from Ohio State who the Bears drafted in the fifth round in 2009, failed a physical with Indianapolis.
The Colts were going to sign Freeman four days after losing Super Bowl XLIV. But after a routine physical – and then an additional four hours of tests on his heart that included stress tests and a cardiac MRI – Freeman was told he had an enlarged heart valve in his left ventricle. The Colts couldn’t pass him for a physical and no NFL team would.
Make sure you check out the full article from Biggs for all the details, and his other article on Freeman at the Tribune.