Unfazed by CTE, rookie expresses love for game
FLORHAM PARK, N.Y. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell attended a fan forum at New York Jets training camp Monday. Things got uncomfortable when a recent study on brain damage in football players came up.
Several Jets fans applauded after rookie safety Jamal Adams said he wasn’t worried about chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and would prefer to die on the football field than anywhere else.
A fan brought up the question with Goodell, running back Matt Forte and Adams, the No. 6 overall pick out of LSU.
Last week, the Journal of the American Medical Association published an updated study that found signs of CTE in 110 out of 111 former NFL players.
Goodell downplayed the study and touted several rules changes he said had made the game safer.
Forte said he was concerned but added the game had gotten safer during his 10-year career.
Then came Adams, who said he didn’t like the rules changes. He made it clear that he was not worried about CTE and that he’d be willing to give up his life for football.
“I’m all about making the game safer,” Adams said, turning to Goodell in the next seat over and smiling. “But as a defensive player ... I’m not a big fan of it. But I get it.
“I can speak for a lot of other guys that play the game. We live and breathe it, and this is what we’re so passionate about. Literally, I would — if I had a perfect place to die, I would die on the field.”
This was all said in a room of about 200 Jets fans, several of whom interrupted Adams with applause.
“And that’s not a lie,” Adams continued. “Like, it’s so much sacrifice that we go through as a team and just connecting as one and winning ballgames, there’s nothing like the playing the game of football.”
Goodell met with reporters after the forum and was asked about Adams comments and the awkward applause.
“Well, I think what he was really making a point of was how much he loves the game,” Goodell said. “And how passionate he is about the game, that he loves playing it and it’s just something that means a great deal to him. And I think that’s ... I get the emotion of that.”
Goodell said hearing the fans’ applause after Adams stated his willingness to die on the field did not make him feel uncomfortable.
“I think that our fans understood the emotion of what he was saying, which is that we love the game,” Goodell said. “And I think they love the game. But I don’t think anyone took it as directly as that.”