Prince looking to start in 2012
HIGH DRAFT PICKS AREN’T IMPORTANT
They’ve made the playoffs despite almost no production from their top four draft picks: Prince Amukamara, Marvin Austin, Jerrel Jernigan and James Brewer.
Credit: Jim McIsaac
Prince Amukamara isn’t allowed to run yet, but he already knows where he wants this offseason race to wind up: With him as a starting cornerback.
“I’m coming into the season with the mindset that I have a job to go get,” last year’s first-round pick said confidently on Thursday at the team’s offseason workouts. “That feeling of just coming off the bench never sat well with me. I’ve always been a competitor so I just have to keep going this year.”
Amukamara missed most of his rookie season due to a broken foot he suffered early in training camp. When he came back to the field, he admitted that he was never 100 percent. He said he felt completely healed earlier this offseason but then had an injection procedure in his foot to help the healing. It’s the same procedure Ahmad Bradshaw had.
“I told them I felt 100 percent but they wanted me to not only feel 100 percent but also look it on the x-rays,” Amukamara said. “I just agreed with them to go with the procedure.”
That leaves him unable ti run for the next few weeks, until they tell him he can. That, he said, will happen long before training camp starts. And that’s when he’ll be competing for a starting job. Considering Corey Webster is returning and Terrell Thomas is back from an ACL, it might be hard to crack the starting lineup.
Then again, the Giants will likely want to ease Thomas back into game speed. That could open the door for Prince to get reps this summer.
