Pacman Jones and Mathias Kiwanuka couldn’t be more different on the field and couldn’t have a more different history in the league. Jones, an aggressive Corner Back now signed with the Cincinnati Bengals, was suspended from the league a couple years back after he was accused of inciting an incident at a strip club that left 3 people shot and one paralyzed for life. He had some other difficulties and attitude problems before that but he appears to have straightened out his life for all intents and purposes, so I’ll just leave it there.

Kiwanuka, a finesse player known for being just as smart and humble as he is quick and productive is a defensive end for the Giants and arguably one of the best in the league. He’s versatile too as he started at linebacker and made a successful transition to defensive end when Giants superman (and HEART-THROB OO LA LA) Osi Umenyiora was out for an entire season due to a knee injury.

These differences make it all the more interesting that both Jones and Kiwanuka are currently out with the same injury: herniated discs in their necks. The prognosis on Jones so far has been more positive (at least publicly so) than Kiwanuka’s. Public statements by both the Giants organization and Kiwanuka himself—whether intentional or not—sound like the beginning of the end. Or maybe even the end of the end.

I’m interested to see how this plays out. I did a little research and apparently, though paralysis isn’t common as a result of this, general loss of movement in the limbs can be common. I guess you can assume the chances of movement loss increases with re-injury, and playing in the NFL would almost ensure additional injuries to their backs and necks even if not the same exact injury.

What will be telling is whether or not Jones and Kiwanuka’s futures are as divergent as their pasts.