New York Giants: Must Retain Prince Amukamara Long Term

By Anthony Joseph | Mar 1, 2015

Last season the New York Giants made rebuilding their secondary a priority and on paper they did an outstanding job doing so. The signings of Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Walter Thurmond III, and Zack Bowman provided an abundance of talent and depth to a unit that struggled in 2013. Prince Amukamara, the Giants’ first round pick in the 2011 NFL Draft, has been one of the few proven corners for Big Blue since his arrival and was destined to thrive in the Giants’ revamped secondary.

But the injury bug swooped in like a plague and decimated the Giants secondary. First was Thurmond who was lost for the remainder of the 2014 season in Week 2 due to a torn pectoral muscle. Cromartie was hampered for most of the season due to an IT band injury but the biggest blow came in Week 9 when Amukamara was lost for the remainder of the season due to a torn biceps muscle.

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With Amukamara gone, the Giants secondary lacked that physical edge that he brought to the table every week. His physicality and ability to jam receivers at the line of scrimmage enabled him to run step for step with the league’s best receivers.

His aggressive style led to him becoming a playmaker in the secondary and Amukamara racked up six interceptions in his four years in the league, three of which came in his injury shortened 2014 season.

New defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s aggressive play designs are perfect for Amukamara’s skill set and will lead to more opportunities to make plays for the young corner. You can bet Amukamara will add to his astounding 197 overall solo tackles in a major way in Spagnuolo’s defense, and he will further be helped with a healthy Cromartie taking some of the pressure off him to play flawless football.

This will allow Amukamara to play with a more profound edge and will finally emerge from being one of the most underrated corners in the league to one of the league’s elite defenders. The Giants have limited cap space and coming off a major injury may worry the Giants’ organization, but they must realize that physical, playmaking defensive backs are a rare find and they must realize what they have in Amukamara before another team snatches him away in free agency next year.

Amukamara’s talent and athletic ability are undeniable and without him, the Giants defense will not be the same and they will have an extremely hard time replacing him. Signing Amukamara to a long term deal may even help the Giants cap situation.

To the Giants, he should be treated like royalty because of his talent and his willingness to hustle on every single play and to do whatever it takes to help his team. That makes him the type of player that the Giants organization loves and it makes perfect sense to lock number 20 up for years to come. Let’s get this going Jerry Reese, get a hold of Amukamara’s agent and get a deal done because you are not in a position to gamble with the player your team cannot thrive without.

Next: Osi Umenyiora: One Last Season With New York Giants?

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