Osi Umenyiora hopes he was just exaggerating when he said there’s a “strong chance” he’ll end up in a wheelchair someday thanks to a lifetime of football. He just doesn’t want to take the chance that it’ll happen to his son. That’s why the Giants defensive end agreed with Kurt Warner that playing football may be too dangerous for children. Using his newly activated Twitter account on Tuesday, Umenyiora said Warner was right to say he prefers his sons to play a different sport, and that Amani Toomer was “dead wrong” for attacking Warner for saying it publicly. “Kurt Warner is right to think how he is thinking about his kids and football,” Umenyiora said in a series of unprompted Tweets. “Its an awesome game and has done a lot for me, but i know when im 45 there is a strong chance il be in a wheelchair.” Umenyiora added that he wouldn’t stop his young son from playing football some day, but said, “If i can avoid that for my son, i will.” Later, in an appearance on ESPN’s Outside the Lines, Umenyiora said his “wheelchair” Tweet “was an exaggeration on my part — or at least I hope so.” Still he acknowledged that “there’s no question that (football) is a dangerous sport.” “It’s a dangerous sport at the NFL level,” Umenyiora said. “There’s no arguing that. But at the end of the day we’re going to continue to do it because we love to do it and it allows us to provide for our families.” Umenyiora, 30, has battled several injuries in his career, including ones to his hip, knees and ankles. He said he’s never had a concussion, although he’s obviously mindful of the danger that became an issue again last week with speculation that the suicide of Junior Seau was somehow related to the concussions he may have suffered during his 20-year career. In the wake of that tragedy, Warner — the former Giants, Cardinals and Rams QB — went on The Dan Patrick Show last week and said he’d prefer his sons play a different sport. He added that the thought of his boys playing a game that could do so much damage to a person “scares me as a dad.” That prompted Toomer, the former Giants WR, to blast Warner for trying to “trash the game.” He compared Warner to “the guy at the basketball court who once he gets done playing takes the ball and ruins the game for everybody else.” Umenyiora disagreed, Tweeting that Toomer was “dead wrong for attacking Kurt like that.” He later added, “There is no question of the dangers of actually playing football and the long-term health risks of playing.” The good news, Umenyiora said, is that the NFL is at least trying to protect current players from those long-term risks. “Obviously you can see that the NFL now has owners who care and a commissioner who cares,” Umenyiora said. “And you see them trying to take steps to try to eradicate or lessen the impact of some of these head traumas and CTEs (chronic traumatic encephalopathies) and the dementia that a lot of us are suffering from later on in our life.” BLUE INK Giants agreed to terms with TE Adrien Robinson, their fourth-round pick, on a four-year deal worth $2.4 million. The rookie out of Cincinnati is expected to sign when rookie minicamp opens on Friday. Twitter.com/TheBlueScreen
Osi Umenyiora believes there is a "strong chance" he'll end up in a wheelchair thanks to football, and he doesn't want his son to end up there, too.