Deon Grant retires as a New York Giant

Deon Grant, who played for the New York Giants during the final two seasons of a solid 11-year NFL career, will retire as a member of the Giants. In a press release from the team, Grant said "I want to be a Giant for the rest of my life.”

Grant played for the Giants in 2010 and 2011, often filling the third safety role in Perry Fewell's defense, a role that is still called "the Deon Grant role" in the defense.

Grant's final NFL game was the Giants victory over New England in Super Bowl XLVI.

“The Giants are a connection in my heart that I knew that I was supposed to be there,” Grant said. “The last year that I signed there to go to the Super Bowl I could have signed with a bunch of teams, but I wanted to sign with the Giants. The way that the owners opened the doors and signed me back and the general manager (Jerry Reese) and the coaching staff … we did each other a favor, but it definitely solidified my career for me.”

Grant did not play in 2012. He subsequently underwent surgeries on his shoulder, ankle and hand.

“I had an opportunity to play last year, a few teams called me up, but I always said, once I win a ring, I think I’m going to leave the game,” Grant said. “My last year, I didn’t have to do training camp (he was re-signed on Aug. 16), came in and finished the whole season without having any injuries. I feel like it couldn’t get any more perfect than that. I had a couple of injuries that I had over the years that I never got fixed, that last year when I got the phone call from other teams I chose to get those injuries fixed. That solidified it for me, I didn’t want to come back and play any more after that.”

Grant was a second-round pick of the Carolina Panthers in 2001. He played for the Panthers, Jacksonville Jaguars and Seattle Seahawks before joining the Giants.