Eli Manning was saddened to hear that David Wilson must end his football career at the age of 23 because it is too much of a risk to continue to play in the aftermath of Wilson’s cervical fusion surgery and his spinal stenosis.
Neck problems and football mortality are nothing new to the Manning family. Eli’s oldest brother, Cooper, was an outstanding high school receiver all set to follow in famous father Archie’s shoes and play at Ole Miss. When Cooper felt some numbness and tingling in his hands and fingers he went for tests and it was revealed that he had spinal stenosis, a narrowing of the spinal canal, a congenital condition that end his football dreams at the age of 18.
Of course, Eli’s middle brother, Peyton, has endured several serious neck surgeries and fusions, and Peyton’s career was on hold until he recovered and moved onto the Broncos last season.
“I think it hits home whether you have brothers or not,’’ Manning said Tuesday. “It hits home for every football player when early in your career you’re told you can’t play football anymore.
“I just feel for a guy who has great talent and loves the game of football and loves playing. To be told that you can probably not play football anymore is tough.You try to put yourself in his shoes. If I were told in my third year that, ‘Hey, you should not play football anymore’ for a health reason, that’d be a tough thing to swallow.’’
Peyton Hillis has been through plenty in his seven-year NFL career, reaching great heights, dealing with injuries and rejection and he’s hoping for continued football rebirth with the Giants. But the veteran running back cannot put himself where Wilson was forced to go.
“I can’t even fathom it,’’ Hillis said. “He’s going through something right now that is devastating and it hurts us as a running backs room, it really does. We really loved David, David’s a great person. David would always give you 100 percent on the field, he’d always give you a smile when you looked at him. My prayers go out to him and his family. God bless him.’’
Wilson is no longer part of the running back room, as he’s out of football, gone after just 21 games for the Giants, who made him their 2012 first-round draft pick.
This is a fresh wound for the Giants, as official news broke Monday that his surgeon and the Giants medical team informed Wilson that he should not play football because of concerns about future neck-related harm. Wilson on Tuesday had some scheduled media press conferences but they were all cancelled, as he’s not quite ready to put a public face on the end of his career.
Coach Tom Coughlin spoke of Wilson at the start of Tuesday’s team meeting.
“I relayed to them about how he came into my office and his attitude and the way he was going to approach this,’’ Coughlin said. “The fact that he didn’t want pity, didn’t want anybody feeling sorry for him. I thought that was a key and the way he left the office talking about ‘Once a Giant, always a Giant,’ really helped me. He helped me. … David Wilson walked into my office and helped me understand and accept the fact that he was not going to be able to play anymore.’’