Prince Amukamara Going To The New York Giants Was The Steal Of The Draft

Prince Amukamara was projected to be a top 10 to 15 pick in the NFL draft. When it came around to the Giants pick at number 19, they were happily surprised he was still available. The Giants director of college scouting Marc Ross said, "It was a shock. It was a shock. It was a shock. I know we come in and say, We picked the best player, and we were surprised. This one truly was a shock. Because you go through scenarios leading up to the draft where you kind of have realistic scenarios, somewhat unrealistic scenarios, of what could happen. And this one was just completely out of left field. We never thought this kid would have been still on the board at 19." Although the Giants weren't one of the teams coming into the draft that desperately needed help in the secondary, they couldn’t pass on a talent like Amukamara. Giants head coach Tom Coughlin said about the pick, "The value of this pick, where he was ranked, there wasn't any question about the fact that this player should be on the New York Giants."

Amukamara is an NFL ready cornerback. He is quick but is also physical and strong. Prince says about himself, "I use my hands a lot with the wide receivers. And I really like to get after the ball." Marc Ross added about Prince, "He is kind of unique in that a guy with this size – and he is fast, fast – he is strong and plays with great instinct. And he has tossed the guys in the gunner on special teams clean off the field. And he is kind of unique." Tom Coughlin described Prince as "physical, he's fast, he has very good size, he's confident, which you have to be as a corner in this league. Sometimes when you look at him you say Jeez, he comes under control a little bit at the break point area. You say Wow, you better continue to give yourself a little bit of a cushion there, young man but then all of a sudden he makes a break on the ball and picks one off. He's physical. They bring him off the corner a lot. He's played in a division where there's all kind of wide open passing attacks, so you know he's defended a lot over the years."

Prince Amukamara will add to a defense that ranked 9th last season in opposing passing yards at 209.5 per game. Amukamara will join Corey Webster, Aaron Ross, and Terrell Thomas as the cover corners for the Giants. When asked if the Giants had to many cornerbacks, Tom Coughlin said, "You can never have enough cover guys because if you watch the way people play today with the addition of the receivers, they go one, two, three, four, until they figure out what you're going to cover some of these third, fourth receivers with. The more cover people you have, the better off you're going to be."