Netflix announced documentary on Steve McNair’s mysterious murder – but who was he and what actually happened?

Steve McNair was one of the best quarterbacks of his era, but his tragic and mysterious murder still hangs like a dark cloud over his legacy.

He became the fifth player in NFL history to pass for 20,000 yards and run for 3,000 yards, and was known as one of the best players in the sport.

But an upcoming Netflix documentary — “Untold: The Murder of Air McNair” — will further investigate his murder.

Initially it was considered a murder and suicide, but there are still suspicions that it was not a double execution.

15 years after his death, DailyMail.com looks back at the life of Steve McNair and his great achievements on the field.

Steve McNair was born in 1973 in a corrugated iron roof house in Mount Olive, Mississippi. His mother raised five children, including Steve, and he grew up in a low-income family.

He once said of his mother that she “scratched”[ed] for every penny. To make us happy, she did without.’

“It was hard watching my mother work from 11pm to 7am. I remember seeing her close the door and cry because she felt like she wasn’t raising us right and she felt 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 football his junior year, but was a four-sport athlete. In addition to football, he played basketball and track, but was an exceptional baseball player, being selected in the 35th round of the 1991 MLB Draft by the Seattle Mariners.

But it was in football that he truly excelled – he was named an All-American and excelled on both sides of the ball, compiling a career total of 30 interceptions as a cornerback – tying the state record at the time.

Despite having offers as a cornerback from schools like LSU, Miami, Nebraska and Ohio State, McNair desperately wanted to play quarterback. So he decided to stay close to home and attended Alcorn State University, an HBCU Division I-AA school.

In college, he was a four-year crusher, both in the air and on the ground, but his senior year was extra strong, running and throwing for 6,281 yards and scoring 56 touchdowns.

His phenomenal performance earned him third place in the voting for the Heisman Trophy. Since then, no I-AA athlete has made 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 playing two seasons as a backup to Chris Chandler, McNair started for the Oilers in their first season in Tennessee in 1997.

Despite McNair going 8-8 that year and missing the playoffs, his 2,664 passing yards were the most for the team since Warren Moon’s 1993 feat. 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 his passing numbers, throwing only ten interceptions.

The 1999 season was by far his best – despite missing five games with an inflamed disk. The Titans finished the regular season 13-3 and made the playoffs for the first time in his career as a starter.

Tennessee needed a “Music City Miracle” to defeat the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Wild Card game, then defeated the Peyton Manning-led Indianapolis Colts before defeating the Jacksonville Jaguars in the AFC Championship game to reach Super Bowl XXXIV.

There they met the St. Louis Rams and the ‘Greatest Show on Turf’ led by quarterback Kurt Warner, running back Marshall Faulk and wide receiver Isaac Bruce.

Despite a late comeback from McNair, his pass to Kevin Dyson on the final drive fell just short as time ran out and the Rams won the title.

McNair would never return to the top of the sport, but that doesn’t mean he performed poorly.

In 2002, he reached the AFC title game again, but lost to the Oakland Raiders.

His next season, 2003, was one of his best – he threw for 3,215 yards, a career high of 24 touchdowns, and just seven interceptions. That year, McNair was named co-MVP along with Peyton Manning.

McNair’s time in Tennessee ended after a 2004 season in which he played in just 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 show the Titans that they had made the wrong move.

While Tennessee went 8-8, McNair turned the Ravens around to a 13-3 record and an AFC North division title in his first season with the team. He would lose to the eventual Super Bowl champion Colts in his final playoff game.

In 2007, McNair played only six games and in April 2008, McNair announced his retirement.

Despite being married to Mechelle McNair from 1997 until his death, McNair also dated a younger woman named Sahel Kazemi.

On July 4, 2009, McNair was found dead with multiple gunshot wounds, along with Kazemi’s body, in a Nashville apartment that McNair was renting.

Earlier that day, the two exchanged romantic text messages and also discussed financial matters. McNair wired Kazemi $2,000 after she said she was “stressed” and had to pay her phone bill.

That night, after putting his children to bed, he texted Kazemi, “coming soon.” It was believed he was asleep on the couch when he was shot twice in the body and twice in the head.

It is believed that after killing him, Kazemi sat down on the couch next to McNair and then shot himself in the temple. Their deaths were ruled a murder-suicide with Kazemi as the perpetrator.