Thomas, Prince will compete for starting job

The Giants have two guys who want to be starting cornerbacks in 2012, but neither of them was healthy enough to be taking the majority of reps in this minicamp. Terrell Thomas, coming off a season lost to an ACL tear in August, did not take any team reps during the three day offseason football extravaganza. Prince Amukamara, meanwhile, is coming off a rookie season that was hijacked by a foot injury and the lack of an offseason program in 2011. While he was cleared to take some reps the last two days, Amukamara was still playing with the second unit.

When the team arrives in Albany – and more significantly, when it leaves Albany – it will be interesting to see who is where.

“I’ve said I am the starter, that’s how I feel,” Thomas said. “I think I’ve proved myself the last two years. The thing I have to do is come back and return to old form. I’ve worked my butt off in the offseason to do that so come July we’ll see.”

“I still have a job to win and that’s my mentality, to come in and be one of the starting corners out there,” Amukamara said. “That’s just my mentality, to start. There’s no point in being drafted and sitting on the bench.”

Of course the presumed other starting cornerback, Corey Webster, was also standing off to the side during the minicamp. He was nursing a hamstring issue that should not be a problem come the end of July. The first three cornerbacks in this minicamp were starters Michael Coe and Justin Tryon and nickelback Jayron Hosley, the third-round pick.

It seems as if Thomas would have the leg up on the starting job. Perry Fewell said that Thomas is a big part of the team’s plans, but after losing him for the season last year Fewell stressed that there is also a backup plan. “Like anything that we try to do we have a Plan A and a Plan B,” Fewell said. “He is a Plan A."

Thomas said he would have liked to have gotten some more reps – or some reps, period – in the minicamp. “I wanted to test it, prove to myself, but I was able to do that working out on the side,” he said. Once he gets back to California next week, he said, he plans on doing one-on-one drills during workouts among Southern Cal players in the NFL.

“The biggest thing is I trust my knee right now to throw it in the dirt,” Thomas said. “I’m not hesitant at all. I just need more reps out there running around and putting my body in different situations that you can’t do on the side.”

Training camp practices begin on July 27. Where will Thomas be that day?

“I’ll be out there,” he said. “No limitations. I won’t have any. As far as what they have for me who knows, they might want to take it slow. But come that day my doctor has already cleared me and I’ll be full go.”

Ready to start. Maybe even as a starter.