New York Giants rookie cornerback DeAndre Wright looking to overcome shoulder injuries on way into NFL
by Mike Garafolo/The Star-Ledger
Tuesday May 05, 2009, 3:29 PM

The Giants had nine draft picks this year, so the late-rounders got a bit overlooked. During rookie camp this weekend, they'll probably get passed over once again. So we decided to take a few minutes to profile the team's sixth-round pick, CB DeAndre Wright from New Mexico:

Those who watched DeAndre Wright tackle Colorado State's Gartrell Johnson live, on TV or in the film room probably yawned it off as a nice ho-hum stop for an undersized defensive back on a big, physical, 225-pound running back.

Only Wright knew how tough of a tackle that actually was.

The 5-10, 198-pound New Mexico cornerback (now a Giants cornerback after the team drafted him in the sixth round last month) brought down Johnson with his right shoulder -- the one that contained a torn labrum. Why did he use that shoulder to make the hit? Well, because the left one was separated and that would have hurt much, much more. A completely numb right shoulder was much better than the searing pain he would have felt in his left one.

No pain in either arm? Yeah, that was an option as well. Doctors had told Wright he could have surgery to repair the labrum. But the Lobos had only one game left in Wright's senior season and they weren't going to a bowl, so Wright strapped it up and played as well as he could.

"That was my decision," Wright said by phone Tuesday. "The doctors told me the best thing was not to play on it and get my surgery as soon as possible. But it was a lose-lose situation regardless because they said I couldn't get surgery until after the season was over, so I just saw no point in missing my last game as a college player."

Wright had a severely limited range of motion and couldn't get a good enough jam on wide receivers. But the one thing he had was toughness and a love for the game that began when he first played organized football at age 8.

And by the time the Colorado State game rolled around, Wright had been dealing with the pain in both of his shoulders for a while. The left one was injured on Nov. 1 against Utah when he landed awkwardly after intercepting a pass in the end zone. The right one, well, he's not sure exactly when that started, but he did feel the damage after the Oct. 11 loss to BYU.

"That night, I couldn't sleep," said Wright, who missed only one snap against the Cougars when he tweaked the shoulder. "I was up for at least two days because the pain was so bad."

Wright underwent surgery to repair the labrum in his right shoulder and said he's feeling much better now. He'll get a chance to show what he can do this weekend when the Giants hold their rookie minicamp. Wright, who had 10 interceptions during his college career, started as a safety when he arrived at New Mexico and was named an honorable mention freshman All-American. But he switched to cornerback, where he played the next three years.

"The game became more boring because you don't get to make as many tackles as you do at safety," Wright said. "That was the only thing I had problems with. ... Corner is easier to me because you only have to focus on one thing. If it's man coverage, you just worry about man coverage. At safety, depending on the defense, we had a bunch of responsibilities and it was becoming more and more complicated as time went along. We started adding in more stuff because we had certain aspects when we were doing a lot of things. It was just easier for me to play corner than safety."

Giants director of college scouting Marc Ross called Wright "an athletic guy with good ball skills, good size. (He's) what we call an eye corner. Plays the ball well. He had a little shoulder injury this year, so his run support was a little off. He got that fixed, so we expect him to be a good, physical presence there."

Wright doesn't anticipate the transition to the next level will be easy. But he still has the confidence he can make it and that he'll start making an impression on the coaching staff this weekend.

"I know I'm smart enough to know what to do on defense and to learn to do different things," he said. "So I'm just going to put it all on my talent like I've always done. ... I don't know what to expect. I really honestly don't. I'm really excited to go into it, but I'm trying to keep my emotions down because I just don't know what to expect. I'm going in there with the attitude of just keeping my mouth shut, doing what the coaches tell me to do and see how it goes."

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Please see the first comment for a special note on a touchy subject for yours truly.

MG