Jamal Adams learns valuable lesson after CTE comments

Safety Jamal Adams of the New York Jets recently made some comments that caused a ton of controversy due to how they were said. He learned his first valuable lesson in the city that never sleeps.

Just a few days into training camp of the New York Jets, rookie safety Jamal Adams made some comments that caused a lot of controversy around the subject of CTE. The kinds of injuries that have defined what playing in the NFL does to players after they retire and enter another phase of their life but deal with lingering effects of all those hits to their bodies and of course, heads.

Recently, Commissioner Roger Goodell stopped by training camp and was part of a unique fan forum with Adams and running back Matt Forte. Fans were able to ask questions and well, Adams got caught up in the moment.

There is no questioning the passion that Adams has for playing football. He’s undoubtedly exciting for his first season in the NFL and of course, playing in the sports media capital of the world. The only problem is, he didn’t think when saying what he did.

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In an article written by Rich Cimini of ESPN, Adams said this when a fan asked him a question about CTE:

“Literally, if I had the perfect place to die, I’d die on the field,” Adams said.

Clearly, he wasn’t thinking straight when he quickly answered that question as even fans that were there in attendance applauded after he said it. At the end of the day, Adams is just 21-years-old and again, was caught in the heat of the moment. While his remarks could be taken as dumb and insensitive, he easily learned a valuable lesson in all this.

When you play in New York, everything you say and do, especially your public and social media comments, always get magnified to the highest degree. He should have known better to say something like that considering how many players deal with CTE, constant migraines, sleeping disorders, and having problems remembering places and names.

The truth of the matter is he gave a natural response to a fan and well, it got national coverage because of how serious CTE is. It’s one of those situations that can be chalked up to a lesson being learned by a rookie that can’t wait for Week 1 of the regular season to arrive and play professional football. He recently clarified what he initially meant to let everyone know again, he was speaking about passion for playing a game he loves.

Trust me when I say he won’t make the same mistake again as coaches and those closest to him most likely showed him the error of his ways. Time heals all as next time when answering questions of any kind at a fan forum, press conference, or even to the media, Adams will think twice before giving his final answer.