Steve McNair was one of the best dual-threat quarterbacks of his era, but his tragic and mysterious murder continues to weigh on his legacy.
He became the fifth player in NFL history to pass for more than 20,000 yards and rush for more than 3,000 yards and was known as one of the toughest players in the game.
But an upcoming Netflix documentary, ‘Untold: The Murder of Air McNair,’ will investigate her murder further.
Although it was initially considered a murder-suicide, suspicions persist as to whether it was a double execution.
Fifteen years after his death, DailyMail.com looks back at the life of Steve McNair and his tremendous achievements on the pitch.
The circumstances surrounding Steve McNair’s death are the subject of a Netflix documentary
Born in 1973 in a tin-roofed house in Mount Olive, Mississippi, Steve McNair was raised in a low-income home by his mother who had five children, including Steve.
He once said of his mother that she “scraped for every last penny. To make us happy, she gave up everything.”
‘It was hard watching my mother work from 11 at night until 7 in the morning. I remember watching her close the door and cry because she didn’t think she was doing a good job raising us and feeling like she didn’t have enough income to take care of us.’
At Mount Olive High School, he led his hometown team to a state championship in his junior year of football, but he was a four-sport athlete. In addition to football, he played basketball and ran track, but he was an exceptional baseball player, being chosen in the 35th round of the 1991 MLB Draft by the Seattle Mariners.
But it was in football where he really stood out: He was named an All-American and excelled on both sides of the field. He racked up a career-high 30 interceptions as a cornerback, tying the state record at the time.
Despite receiving offers as a cornerback from schools like LSU, Miami, Nebraska and Ohio State, McNair wanted so badly to play quarterback that he decided to stay close to home and attended Alcorn State University, a Division I-AA HBCU school.
In college, he was a standout through the air and on the ground all four years, but was especially strong as a senior, rushing and passing for a combined 6,281 yards and 56 total touchdowns.
Despite having offers from top schools, McNair attended Division I-AA Alcorn State.
McNair was a standout at Alcorn State and was drafted third overall by the Houston Oilers.
His phenomenal performance allowed him to finish third in the Heisman Trophy voting. Since then, no I-AA athlete has even made it into the top ten for the prestigious award.
McNair was selected third overall in the 1995 NFL Draft by the Houston Oilers, who signed him to a seven-year contract.
After spending two seasons as Chris Chandler’s backup, McNair was a starter for the Oilers in his first season in Tennessee in 1997.
Despite going 8-8 and missing the playoffs that year, McNair’s 2,664 passing yards were the most for the team since Warren Moon’s mark in 1993. He also led the team in rushing touchdowns with eight.
In 1998, the Oilers’ first season in Nashville and their last before being renamed the Tennessee Titans, McNair improved on those passing numbers, throwing just ten interceptions.
The 1999 season was by far his best, despite missing five games due to a swollen disk. The Titans finished the regular season with a 13-3 record and made the playoffs for the first time in his career as a starter.
McNair became a starter in 1997 and joined the Titans in 1999, making the playoffs.
He led Tennessee to an AFC Championship that season, but lost in Super Bowl XXXIV.
Tennessee needed a “Music City Miracle” to beat the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Wild Card Game and would then beat the Peyton Manning-led Indianapolis Colts before beating the Jacksonville Jaguars in the AFC Championship Game to reach Super Bowl XXXIV.
There they would face the St. Louis Rams and the ‘Greatest Show on Turf’ led by quarterback Kurt Warner, running back Marshall Faulk and wide receiver Isaac Bruce, among others.
Despite a late rally by McNair on the final drive, his pass to Kevin Dyson fell a yard short as time expired and the Rams won a title.
McNair would never return to the top of the sport, but that doesn’t mean he had any bad performances.
They reached the AFC title game again in 2002, but fell to the Oakland Raiders.
His next season, 2003, was one of his best: he threw for 3,215 yards, a career-high 24 touchdowns and just seven interceptions. That year, McNair was named co-MVP alongside Peyton Manning.
Although McNair would never reach the Super Bowl again, he remained a dominant presence.
McNair’s best season came in 2003, when he won the Most Valuable Player award alongside Peyton Manning.
McNair’s time in Tennessee ended after a 2004 season in which he played only eight games due to injury and a 2005 season in which the Titans missed the playoffs for the second straight year.
In 2006, he was traded to the Baltimore Ravens for a fourth-round pick in the 2007 NFL Draft. He would immediately prove to the Titans that they had made the wrong decision.
While Tennessee finished with an 8-8 record, McNair turned the Ravens around and led them to a 13-3 record and the AFC North Division title in his first season with the team. He fell to the eventual Super Bowl champion Colts in his final playoff game.
In 2007, McNair played in only six games and in April 2008, McNair announced his retirement.
After eleven seasons with the Titans organization, he was traded to Baltimore, where he retired.
Although McNair was married to Mechelle McNair from 1997 until his death, he was also romantically involved with a younger woman named Sahel Kazemi.
On July 4, 2009, McNair was found dead from multiple gunshot wounds, along with Kazemi’s body in a Nashville condominium that McNair was renting.
That same day, the pair exchanged romantic text messages and also discussed financial matters. McNair wired $2,000 to Kazemi after she said she was “stressed out” and needed to pay her phone bill.
That night, after putting her children to bed, she texted Kazemi: “I’m on my way.” She is believed to have been sleeping on the couch when she was shot twice in the body and twice in the head.
After killing him, Kazemi is believed to have sat on the couch next to McNair and shot herself in the temple. Their deaths were ruled murder-suicides, with Kazemi as the shooter.