FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- Long before Jamal Adams, the New York Jets had a big-hitting defender named Marvin Jones. He was a high draft pick with impeccable college credentials and arrived in 1993 with the same kind of "die-on-the-field" bravado that Adams expressed Monday in a fan forum.
"When I was in college and then got into the league, I made similar comments," Jones, 45, said Tuesday in a phone interview. "I was always looking for the perfect hit. I thought like that all the time. You love the game and you play hard. It's a mentality. But as you grow up -- he's a young guy -- your point of view changes as you get older."
Though some people might find Adams' comments insensitive, Jones said he understood the intent, attributing the controversial remark to being "young, gung ho and trying to impress." Three other former Jets from different decades -- Wesley Walker (1980s), Vinny Testaverde (1990s) and Damien Woody (2000s) -- mostly agreed with that sentiment.
"I felt the same way when I was his age," Testaverde, 53, said.
Of course, there wasn't much information on the long-term effects of head injuries in those days. They didn't know what we know now.
Adams sparked a firestorm with his response to a fan's question about head injuries, player safety and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), the degenerative brain disease that's the scourge of the NFL. He provided fuel to the already raging debate on CTE. On Tuesday, the Jets' first-round pick tried to clarify his comments, saying he was expressing his passion for the game. He said he didn't mean to offend families affected by CTE.
"This CTE stuff is not a game," Woody, 39, said. "A lot of guys are affected by it."
Woody was willing to cut him some slack because he's a rookie, but he said if Adams were his teammate, he'd pull him aside and talk to him about the ways of the NFL -- the business aspect to the league.
"He hasn't experienced the cold side of the game," Woody said.
The former players believe Adams' perspective will change once he has kids and a family, and once he becomes accustomed to the violent, cutthroat world of the NFL.
"I applaud him; he was talking about his love of the game," said Walker, 62, who has battled serious health complications. "Me, personally, I wouldn't want to die on a field. I had other passions in my life, and it wasn't all about football.
"Knowing what I know now," he continued, "I don't know if I would've played after what I've gone through."
Testaverde, who played until he was 44, is taking a proactive approach to potential brain-related issues later in life. He purchased a hyperbaric oxygen chamber for his home in Florida and swears by it.
One aspect of the Adams controversy left a sour taste for one player, who felt commissioner Roger Goodell -- seated alongside Adams at the fan forum -- could've chimed in with some perspective.
"[Goodell] could've guided or corrected him in that situation," the player said. "To say nothing was a slap in the face to the people suffering from it."