The Giants could not believe their luck.
They did not go into the first round of the NFL Draft last night thinking cornerback, but they sure changed their minds when their selection came around at No. 19 and sitting there, shockingly, was Prince Amukamara, the highly-regarded cornerback from Nebraska. It was widely believed Amukamara would be gone well before the Giants’ turn came up and, even though the position was not a glaring need, it was simply too much value to pass up.
And so, with the top running back in the draft, Mark Ingram of Alabama, still on the board, and a quality left tackle, Anthony Castonzo of Boston College, also available, the Giants trusted their draft board and happily took Amukamara.
“[We were] really surprised he was there when we picked,” general manager Jerry Reese said. “We thought he’d get picked a lot higher than that. It happens like that sometimes in the draft, a guy can fall right in your lap.”
Coach Tom Coughlin said Amukamara was “clearly the highest-rated player we could take on the board,” meaning it wasn’t an especially difficult decision.
“Where he was ranked, there wasn’t any question that this player should be on the New York Giants,” Coughlin said.
The savvy fans at Radio City Music Hall chanted “We want Prince” when it was time for the Giants to pick, even though there was barely any buzz about him coming to the Giants in the weeks leading up to the draft. Most draft experts had Amukamara (pronounced “ah-moo-kuh-mare-uh”) in the top dozen prospects.
But past the midway point of the first round, he still was there and admitted “I definitely had a Brady Quinn flashback,” alluding to the Notre Dame quarterback plummeted in the first round in 2007.
“I was very surprised that I lasted all the way to 19 just because I thought other teams needed a corner that had earlier picks,” said Amukamara, who added his pre-draft contact with the Giants was minimal. “I never worked out for them, I never visited here, they never really contacted me.”
Reese said he waited a few minutes to listen to offers to trade down, but “nobody had a decent enough offer” to get out of the pick and give up the second-best cornerback prospect in the draft, after Patrick Peterson of LSU.
“He’ll come in and he’ll play right away,” Reese said. “We never dreamed he’d be there when we were picking. You get lucky like that sometimes.”
The popular theory was for the Giants to address their offensive line needs with their first pick. They never got a shot at Florida center/guard Mike Pouncey, as the Dolphins took him at No. 15. They also never got a shot at Nate Solder, the 6-foot-8 left tackle from Colorado. Solder was plucked by the Patriots with the 17th pick.
It’s likely Amukamara was rated higher by the Giants than either Pouncey or Solder and clearly he was rated more highly than Ingram.
There’s little not to like about Amukamara, who comes from royal Nigerian bloodlines. His grandfather was a local king and his father, Romanus, was a chief.
Amukamara has excellent size (6-foot, 206 pounds), excellent speed and natural cover skills. As a junior, he had five interceptions for the Cornhuskers, but last season he did not get a single interception.
Reese said there “was some concern about his production on the ball last season,” but he attributed that to opponents not throwing in his direction and the loss of defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, who was a monster rookie for the Lions in 2010.
Amukamara does not have long arms or big hands, but Reese said the fact that Amukamara stands 6-feet tall mitigates the need for long arms.
“If you’re 5-8 and you have short arms that’s a problem,” Reese said.
Reese was adamant that Amukamara is “in the rotation right away, challenging for a job” either at nickel back or as a starter. The Giants have two solid starters in Corey Webster and Terrell Thomas and a former first-round pick, Aaron Ross, as their third corner.
“You always need corners, you always need pass rushers,” Reese said. “It’s always a need pick, any time you get a corner it’s a need pick.”
What’s next?
What to look for from the Giants on Day 2 (rounds 2 and 3) of the NFL Draft:
There’s a need for depth on the offensive line, with all three centers on the roster coming off surgeries, but the Giants may wait a bit, as they do not often use high picks on interior offensive linemen.
There’s also a glaring need for an impact outside linebacker and the second round could be where the Giants pull the trigger.
paul.schwartz@nypost.com