FRISCO, Texas — Dal­las Cow­boys strength coach Markus Paul died Wednes­day, a day after being tak­en to the hos­pi­tal after expe­ri­enc­ing a med­ical emer­gency at the team’s facil­i­ty. He was 54.

The team said the cause of death was pending.

Paul was in his third sea­son with the Cow­boys after pre­vi­ous being a strength and con­di­tion­ing coach with the New Orleans Saints, New Eng­land Patri­ots, New York Jets and 12 sea­sons with the New York Giants. Paul was part of five Super Bowl cham­pi­onships, three with the Patri­ots and two with the Giants.

The for­mer NFL safe­ty played for the Chica­go Bears (1989–93) and Tam­pa Bay Buc­ca­neers (1993). He played in 71 games with 17 starts over those five sea­sons. He was a fourth-round draft pick out of Syra­cuse, where he was an AP All-Amer­i­can as a senior in 1998.

“The loss of a fam­i­ly mem­ber is a tragedy, and Markus Paul was a loved and val­ued mem­ber of our fam­i­ly,” Dal­las own­er Jer­ry Jones said. “He was a pleas­ant and calm­ing influ­ence in our strength room.”

The Cow­boys can­celed prac­tice Tues­day after Paul was tak­en to the hos­pi­tal. The team prac­ticed Wednes­day, a day before its Thanks­giv­ing game against Washington.