A terrifying scene unfolded at New York Giants practice on Wednesday during a kick return drill when cornerback Amani Oruwariye went down an needed immediate assistance.
Oruwariye was immobilized by the training staff, placed on a backboard and carted to a nearby ambulance where he was transported to a local hospital.
Buy Giants TicketsPrayers up for practice squad CB Amani Oruwariye, who was involved in some sort of collision during a kickoff drill and had to be loaded onto a backboard and into an ambulance. Hopefully he'll be okay.
— Patricia Traina (@Patricia_Traina) September 13, 2023
Really scary scene today at a Giants practice. Practice squad player Amani Oruwariye went down and had to be put be put on board and then carted off field. They seem to be putting him in ambulance right now which just left facility
— Charlotte Carroll (@charlottecrrll) September 13, 2023
The good news — if there is any after such a unsettling incident — is that Oruwariye was moving his arms and hands as he was carted away.
Giants CB Amani Oruwariye got hurt during kickoff work at practice just now and had to be lifted carefully onto a cart and taken off the field. He was moving his arms slowly as he was taken away, but he didn’t move much otherwise. It was a scary, scary scene pic.twitter.com/eTS4AYkp6r
— Pat Leonard (@PLeonardNYDN) September 13, 2023
“He had movement in all his extremities and was taken to Hackensack Medical Center for further evaluation. The results of the evaluation and testing were negative, and Oruwariye was cleared to return to the team’s facility,” the Giants said in a statement on Wednesday afternoon.
The 27-year-old Oruwariye was signed a one-year contract in March and later released as a part of final cuts. He was re-signed to the team’s practice squad, where he remained through the first week of the regular season.
Oruwariye was originally a fifth-round pick of the Detroit Lions in the 2019 NFL draft. He had spent the first four years of his career in Detroit before becoming an unrestricted free agent earlier this year.
In 53 career games (36 starts), the 6-foot-2, 205-pound Oruwariye has recorded 173 tackles (143 solo, four for a loss), two fumble recoveries, 24 passes defensed, and nine interceptions. He was leading the NFL in interceptions before suffering a thumb injury in 2021.
In 2022, Oruwariye earned a Pro Football Focus grade of just 30.0, which was the worst of his career. His highest overall grade came as a rookie in 2019 with a 71.4.
