Father of Tennessee Titans’ Caleb Farley killed after player’s house explodes

The father of Tennessee Titans cornerback Caleb Farley died overnight in an explosion that destroyed the NFL player’s home and left another person injured, authorities said.

Robert M Farley, 61, was found dead in the debris of the Lake Norman, North Carolina, house on Tuesday morning, said Kent Greene, director of Iredell County Fire Services and Emergency Management.

First responders arrived at the house a few minutes after midnight on Tuesday and found Christian Rogers, 25, exiting the collapsed structure, Greene said. Rogers, a friend of the family, was taken to hospital with a concussion. He is “awake and alert”, Greene said, but has not yet been discharged.

Greene said gas is likely to have accumulated over a long period of time and found its way to an ignition source, which caused the explosion. The blast, which local authorities have ruled accidental, originated in a bedroom and did not damage any surrounding homes.

Photos of the house show piles of rubble scattered across a large plot of land about 28 miles north of Charlotte.

“There could not be anyone in it left alive – that was my first thought,” Greene said. “And when I found out someone did walk out of it, I was amazed. This was a 6,300 sq ft home, and there’s nothing left but maybe a part of the garage.”

Property records list Caleb Farley as the homeowner. The Titans player was not in the house at the time of the explosion, Greene said. His teammates said earlier on Tuesday that he was one of the last players to leave the locker room Monday night.

Titans coach Mike Vrabel called the situation “shocking” and said that the team will do everything possible to support Farley. His teammates confirmed that Farley, who was born and raised in nearby Maiden, North Carolina, had traveled home on Tuesday morning.

Farley, the No 22 overall pick in the 2021 draft, was placed on injured reserve last November with a back issue. He has played 12 games in his first two seasons and is currently listed as physically unable to perform as the Titans wrap up training camp this week.

In college, the 6ft 2in, 197lb cornerback was the first high-profile player to opt out of the 2020 season because of the coronavirus pandemic. He lost his mother to cancer in 2018 and was unwilling to put another loved one at risk while playing at Virginia Tech.

Vrabel told the Titans about Farley’s loss at the end of Tuesday’s scrimmage, and the players took a knee in an apparent prayer.

“The most important thing is to focus on him … everything else is pretty trivial,” Vrabel said after practice at the team’s headquarters in Nashville.

Titans safety Kevin Byard lost his own mother in June 2022.

“I know he lost his mother at a young age as well, so he’s dealt with a lot of adversity as well,” Byard said. “So just very tragic. And, you know, as a team and as a brother, all we can do and all I can do is to try to be there for him.”