David Wilson thought he was dead.
"You know the cartoons, how they die and ghosts carry them out of the body?" Wilson said, remembering back to the hit that essentially ended his NFL career after less than two seasons. "When I hit the ground, I'm like, 'It's over with.' "
This was the fifth game of the 2013 season, and Wilson, a running back chosen in the first round in the previous year's draft, was tackled for no gain deep in Giants territory in the second quarter against the Eagles at MetLife Stadium.
The numbness was terrifying. Wilson slowly got to his feet, but he knew something was terribly wrong.
"I could move my fingers, but I couldn't feel them," he said. "I was still numb."
He would never play another game, his time in the NFL cut short after 21 games, his dreams of a Hall of Fame career ruined in an instant.
He was 22 years old.
Wilson was diagnosed with a herniated disc in his neck and had season-ending surgery. He was cleared to return the following season. But less than a week into training camp, he suffered another injury. And more numbness.
"Took a toss from the quarterback, ran into the back of one of my teammates and I felt the same shot I had before in the game," he said. "Completely numb. I just couldn't feel anything. I couldn't even feel my feet, even though I was standing up."
Wilson eventually regained feeling in his extremities, and when he met a few days later with Giants team physicians Frank Cammisa and Russell Warren, he wasn't surprised when he got the news. They told him he shouldn't play football again, that the next hit could result in paralysis.
"I held myself together, said to the doctors I understand you're looking out for my overall health and my life," Wilson said. "I walked to the car, drove home quietly, and it didn't hit me until I had to tell somebody. I called my mom, talked to her on the phone, didn't even bring it up. So she asked, and I had to tell her."
Giants teammate Rueben Randle, who lived in the same apartment complex as Wilson, found it odd that Wilson didn't visit him that day.
"That was irregular, so he hit me up and I told him," Wilson said. "He thought I was playing. That hurt me. Football was a part of my identity."
