Prince Amukamara retires as a Giant

Former New York Giants cornerback Prince Amukamara has formally retired from the NFL, and has done so as a Giant.

Amukamara was drafted by the Giants in the first round of the 2011 NFL Draft and was widely considered a peer to Patrick Peterson in that draft class. He was generally considered a fringe top-10 talent, so the Giants pounced when he surprisingly fell into their laps at 19th overall.

“Really surprised he was there when we picked,” General manager Jerry Reese said at the time. “We thought he would get picked a lot higher than that. But that can happen sometimes in the draft, guys can fall into your lap.

“He was too much value. It’s a need pick as well. For me, it was. He can come in and play right away. He’ll be in the mix right away.”

And while Amukamara missed much of his rookie season thanks to a broken foot, he was indeed in the mix as soon as he was healthy. He made his NFL debut with 5 tackles, 2 passes defensed, and an interception against the Philadelphia Eagles. Prince’s return helped fortify a Giants’ secondary that had been hit by injury as they made an unlikely playoff push that ended a Super Bowl win.

Prince would ultimately play five of his nine seasons for the Giants, playing in 55 games and racking up 261 tackles, 43 passes defensed, 7 interceptions, and 3 forced fumbles. He went on to play for the Jacksonville Jaguars and Chicago Bears after leaving New York.