I think it's pretty cool that I own an Amani Toomer card. This is probably the only one I've got of him.
I don't know how Amani stacks up in terms of greatest receivers ever, but I remember that he was definitely pretty good.
I remember riding on the school bus as a youngster and an old, mostly forgotten friend of mine used to love bragging about the New York Giants and Amani Toomer's great receiving skills. I was into football, and I slightly looked up to this particular child so I pretty much took his word for it. Also, Amani Toomer is such a distinct name that it made it easier for me to remember Mr. Toomer.
It is pretty trippy looking back on that early era of my life, and just the timing of it all. I was super young when these conversations used to happen on the school bus. This older kid probably has a lot more memories of Amani in his prime. For me though, I caught the very tail end of Toomer's prime. When I was really old enough to properly watch football and understand the game better, Toomer was mostly past his prime. His final five seasons were not exactly terrible, but they definitely were not his best seasons from when he was at the peak of his career.
Basically, I have personal memories of Amani from when he was in his thirties, I pretty much missed his entire prime from his twenties.
I guess it's just pretty trippy how time works I guess.
If I never had that conversation on the bus with my old friend, I may never have even realized immediately that Amani Toomer had a really solid prime, and overall a good NFL career.
Toomer is a New York Giants legend!! He was drafted by the Giants in 1996, and that would be the only uniform he would ever wear as an NFL player. Just like when I wrote about Michael Strahan the other day, another Giants legend, Toomer is also a classic example of a player being loyal and sticking with one franchise for an entire career. Players like this are extremely rare nowadays. Toomer spent his entire thirteen year career in the Big Apple. Love to see it!
It's really pretty surprising that Amani Toomer never made it to a single Pro Bowl. But still, he put up numbers pretty consistently as a whole throughout his career. AND he was pretty versatile, proving useful as a return man on kicks and punts.
The guy just seemed to produce pretty much wherever you stuck him!
I'm sure Giants fans appreciate Toomer as my old friend probably still does!
Toomer's career is a perfect example of the type of rewards sticking with one team can bring. Overall, Toomer is probably remembered as a solid, productive offensive player, but I bet within the Giants fandom, Toomer is really appreciated on a special level. I doubt Toomer's legacy would be as strong if he had played for like 6+ plus teams or something like that.
How productive was Toomer exactly? I'll try to condense his career stats and accomplishments into a decent little list!
During Amani Toomer's 13 year NFL career that spanned from 1996-2008, Toomer appeared in 190 games, starting 141 of them. Each and every one of those games with the New York Giants. Here's what he accomplished in that time:
- 9,497 Receiving Yards
- 9,607 Yards From Scrimmage (110 Rushing Yards)
- 5x 1,000 Receiving Yard Seasons - Accomplished Consecutively from 1999-2003
- 10,924 All-Purpose Yards
- 1,060 Punt Return Yards
- 9.7 Yards Per Return
- 257 Kick Return Yards
- 17.1 Yards Per Return
- 1,060 Punt Return Yards
- 668 Receptions
- 58 Total Touchdowns
- 54 Receiving Touchdowns
- 3 Punt Return Touchdowns
- 1 Rushing Touchdown
- Super Bowl XLII Champion
- New York Giants Ring of Honor
- 2x Super Bowl Appearances
Toomer also had 44 receptions for 608 yards and 7 touchdowns in eleven playoff games during his career.
Toomer gave his entire career to one franchise, and helped the Giants win a Super Bowl during the twilight of his career. One of the greatest Super Bowls EVER. Just a pretty awesome, special career he had.
Despite Toomer being a bit older and past his prime during that Super Bowl victory in 2008, Toomer showed UP that game. I'm sure he wanted that ring BAD. Toomer had six catches on six targets, for 84 yards including a 38 yard reception!
As a matter of fact, Toomer had himself a pretty nice playoff run that year as a thirty-three year old!
I doubt you want to talk bad about Amani Toomer around a Giants fan! Dude was a stud!
Let me know what you think of Amani and the card.
Anyone have any Amani Toomer memories?
