Aaron Ross will turn 31 in September, right around the beginning of the 2013 NFL season. Entering his seventh season in the league -- and sixth with the New York Giants -- the veteran cornerback isn't quite ready for a rocking chair. He is, however, ready to take on the role of tutoring younger players.
"I feel like I’m already taking some of the younger guys under my wing and just teaching them the little things that they may not know like myself. R.W. [McQuarters] and Sam [Madison] did a great job with me and Corey [Webster] and Terrell Thomas just taking us in and showing us the ropes," Ross said Thursday during media availability at the Timex Performance Center.
Ross, Thomas and Webster are joined by youngsters Prince Amukamara and Jayron Hosley as the Giants current cornerbacks. The 2013 NFL Draft is only a few days away, and that could mean at least one more yougn player being added to the mix.
"Hopefully being a vet I can just bring leadership and talk to the younger guys letting them know that we just have to keep working and execute our plays. Just the whole locker room atmosphere… I think a lot goes along with winning other than being on the field; just the camaraderie of the players on and off the field," Ross said.
Winning is, of course, one of the reasons why Ross is thrilled to be back with the Giants. He won two Super Bowl titles in five seasons with the Giants before going to the Jacksonville Jaguars as a free agent -- a move he has previously admitted was purely about the money.
"I missed the guys, I missed the coaches, I missed the organization and it seems like everybody else missed me just as well so it seems like a mutual thing. It brings a smile to my face when I came in knowing that it wasn’t just me that was missing the Giants. It was vice-versa," Ross said. "It seems like I never left."
Ross, incidentally, visited with Dan Rubenstein of SB Nation YouTube on Friday. It's a lengthy, but enjoyable listen.