Ex-Wife of Justin Strzelczyk Responds to Jamal Adams' CTE Comments

The ex-wife of Justin Strzelczyk cautioned New York Jets safety Jamal Adams against being too flippant about the long-term consequences of a degenerative brain disease such as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

"I don't even know what to say," Keana McMahon said of Adams, per the New York Daily News' Christian Red. "... He has no idea what dealing with someone who has CTE is like."

During a fan forum Monday, Adams described the football field as the "perfect place to die" when discussing CTE and player safety, per ESPN.com's Rich Cimini.

Strzelczyk played nine years as an offensive lineman for the Pittsburgh Steelers. His death in 2004 helped shine more light on the effects of CTE and its connection to the repeated head trauma to which NFL players are subjected.

McMahon divorced Strzelczyk nine months before he died, and she told Red that when she was married to Strzelczyk, he would exhibit "mood swings and erratic behavior" and that their two children became afraid of what he'd do.

Adams' comments came a little less than a week after The Journal of the American Medical Association published a study by Dr. Ann McKee in which McKee and her researchers studied the brains of 202 former football players. Of that group, 111 had played in the NFL, and doctors diagnosed CTE in 110 of those brains.

Adams is entering his first year in the NFL after the Jets selected him with the sixth overall pick in the 2017 draft.