Former Big Blue Defensive Leader Deon Grant Retires As A Giant
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Despite playing for four different teams in his 12-year NFL career, safety Deon Grant has decided to retire as a New York Giant.
"I want to retire as a Giant because I want to be a Giant for the rest of my life," the 34-year-old said in a statement released by the team.
Grant only spent two years with Big Blue, but was a leader on defense during the Giants' 2011 Super Bowl run. In that postseason, the safety tallied 17 tackles, an interception and three pass deflections. Before signing with the Giants, he was a member of the Carolina Panthers, Jacksonville Jaguars and Seattle Seahawks.
"The Giants are a connection in my heart that I knew that I was supposed to be there," the former Tennessee Volunteer said. "The last year that I signed there to go to the Super Bowl I could have signed with a bunch of teams, but I wanted to sign with the Giants. The way that the owners opened the doors and signed me back and the general manager (Jerry Reese) and the coaching staff … we did each other a favor, but it definitely solidified my career for me."
The Giants decided not to re-sign the former second-round draft pick after the 2011 Super Bowl-winning season, but that was exactly how the safety wanted to end his time playing professional football.
"I always said, once I win a ring, I think I'm going to leave the game," Grant said. "I feel like it couldn't get any more perfect than that."
After playing in 176 career NFL games -- 32 with the Giants -- Grant wants to return to football as a coach, never wanting the sport to be excluded from his life.
"I still study the game a lot," he said. "I study the game because I think that's going to be a place where I land on my feet as far as coaching. I do a lot of charity work, I have other businesses running for me, but my main thing right now is getting back into that whole football swing of things."
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