Giants cornerback Prince Amukamara said he knew reporters would be looking for him today given the recent reports out of Miami regarding Jonathan Martin, but he didn’t feel like he was ever a victim of bullying.
Amukamara was filmed being thrown into a tub of ice water by Jason Pierre-Paul during training camp last year, an incident many thought to be a textbook example of hazing gone too far.
But Amukamara said he didn’t think the two incidents were the same.
“Yeah, I definitely put myself in Jonathan’s shoes to see if it was identical to my situation and just see his comments,” Amukamara said, via Conor Orr of the Newark Star-Ledger. “The players here, we all have a great relationship. If I would have complained or told coach or brought it out, if I would have made a public outcry about it or something like that, I think it would be saying that it was bullying and people would have a problem with it.
“But after I was thrown in the tub everything was great with the players, so it definitely wasn’t bullying.”
He said without knowing all the details he wasn’t comfortable going into too much depth, but thought there was a fine line young players had to walk.
“They still give me crap but the only thing is now I give it back, and because of that, I know it’s not one-sided,” Amukamara said. “I know it’s not bullying, I can just walk away, I can just not care. And that probably gets them more mad.
“But I definitely do feel safe in my work place. I think if I didn’t feel safe in my work place, I wouldn’t have said I was being bullied, but I probably would say something to the players or to the coaches like ‘Okay, you guys need to chill out,’ and if they would have kept doing it I definitely would have fought or something.”
Amukamara was apparently joking during the last part of that remark, and hasn’t indicated any problems since.
That kind of atmosphere was not, apparently, evident in Miami for Martin.