Orlando Brown: Former Browns and Ravens Lineman Dead at 40

Former Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens offensive tackle Orlando Brown, who died last month at the age of 40, succumbed to a condition known as diabetic ketoacidosis, according to Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com.

The condition is rarely fatal, but Maryland's chief medical examiner David Fowler said that there were no signs that Brown was undergoing treatment for diabetes and that the disease may have been undiagnosed at the time of his death.

Many of Brown's former teammates were shocked both by his death and by the revelation that diabetes was the cause, particularly former offensive lineman Wally Williams, who played for both the Browns and Ravens as Brown did.

"He never talked about having diabetes, never," Williams said.

Symptoms of diabetes ketoacidosis include nausea, abdominal pain and constant fatigue, but Brown never checked into a hospital. Brown may have been feeling sick, but didn't equate the symptoms with diabetes, speculated Rita Kalyani, an assistant professor of medicine in the division of endocrinology and metabolism at Johns Hopkins University.

"For someone who is undiagnosed, they may not know they have diabetes," Kalyani said. "The symptoms may occur gradually, and people may not recognize them."

The 6'7", 360-pound tackle known as "Zeus" enjoyed a fruitful 10-year NFL career, but he is probably best known for an incident that occurred in 1999 as a member of the Browns. During a game, referee Jeff Triplette threw a flag that accidentally hit Brown in the eye.

This prompted Brown to shove Triplette to the ground, and he was suspended as a result. Brown missed three seasons due to a resulting eye injury, but he settled with the NFL for $25 million in damages.

As shocking as that particular incident was, the circumstances surrounding his death may be even more surprising. It will be interesting to see whether the NFL institutes an early detection program for diabetes and related diseases on the heels of this tragic death.