Although the Florida Highway Patrol does not publicly release names of individuals involved in collisions, details of the crash correspond with a fatal head-on collision reported by the FHP around 11:45 p.m. April 11 along Florida 24 near Gainesville Regional Airport. The FHP reported that three occupants in a second vehicle, two from Middleburg and one from Macclenny, 19 to 21 years old, also sustained injuries.<\/p>\n
On the gridiron, Payton-Jones blossomed into a high school star during the early 2010s at Sandalwood, breaking through as a senior in 2013. He earned All-Gateway Conference honors at cornerback and won first-team All-First Coast and Super 75 recognition from the Times-Union during his senior season, picking off four interceptions.<\/p>\n
He signed with Nebraska college football, switching to the Cornhuskers<\/a> over Purdue just before National Signing Day in 2014, and earned honorable mention All-Big Ten during his four-year career in Lincoln.<\/p>\n Chris Payton-Jones is pictured with the Arizona Cardinals during the 2019 NFL preseason. Payton-Jones, a Sandalwood High School graduate, played four NFL seasons.<\/p>\n Payton-Jones’ professional football career was a profile in perseverance. Undrafted following a senior year knee injury at Nebraska, and released in the 2018 preseason by the Detroit Lions, he nonetheless worked his way onto the active roster of the Arizona Cardinals later that fall. He went on to play 29 NFL regular-season games, 11 with the Cardinals (2018-19), one with the Lions (2020), eight with the Minnesota Vikings (2020) and seven with the Tennessee Titans (2021).<\/p>\n He also had stints with the Seattle Sea Dragons of the second XFL in 2023 and the St. Louis Battlehawks of the United Football League in 2024 and 2025.<\/p>\n His connection to the game didn’t end with his NFL days. Payton-Jones had also built a career as an active independent videographer and photographer for Northeast Florida sporting events, ranging from Raines High School’s run to the FHSAA Class 3A football championship<\/a> in December 2025 to the state basketball tournament at UNF in March.<\/p>\n As recently as last week, he had produced videos covering the Florida Golden Gloves boxing championships at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood in Broward County.<\/p>\n The United Football League was among many both inside and outside Jacksonville to pay tribute to Payton-Jones Sunday, describing him as “a beloved teammate and leader in the locker room, who demonstrated the importance of hard work, determination, and resilience throughout his career.”<\/p>\n![\"Chris](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/da3710c616bd9f10baeed6db1d8288d1.jpeg\"\/)
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