New York Giants Official Website

Armstead Retires As a Giant
Five-time Pro Bowler signs one-day contract and officially retires.
By Michael Eisen, Giants.com

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June 13, 2007

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Jessie Armstead grew up in Dallas Cowboys country and wore a Washington Redskins uniform for two seasons, but his NFL heart beats only for the Giants. Armstead joined the team as an eighth-round draft choice in 1993 and left after the 2001 season. In nine years, he never missed a game, went to five consecutive Pro Bowls and helped lead the Giants to Super Bowl XXXV.

"I'll always be a Giant," Armstead said this week.

"I always said I wanted to come back and make sure I retire a Giant," Armstead said. "It's an honor for them to actually sign me back and let me retire with them. When Dallas did it for Emmitt (Smith), they felt the same way. I had my mind made up before Emmitt, but then when he did it, it opened the doors where I can say hey, 'There's a possibility.'

"I look at myself the same way.  I've been attached to the New York Giants, no matter where I went, I hear people telling me when I go to New York City, 'You have to do it this way.' And I'm going to do it."

Smith, the NFL's career rushing leader, played 13 seasons with the Cowboys before a two-season stint with the Arizona Cardinals. Armstead grew up and still makes his primary residence in Dallas, and he played many memorable games against Smith. Like his former adversary, Armstead wanted to retire as a member of the team to which he is most strongly connected. The Giants fully supported the idea.

"Jessie was one of the all-time great Giants," general manager Jerry Reese said. "He was a fearless leader of the defense and one of the most instinctive linebackers I've ever seen. I remember watching him sniff out misdirection plays and screens for no gain or for a loss and I would say to myself, 'Wow, that was big time.' Jessie left it all out there every Sunday."

Though he is a Texas native who played at the University of Miami, Armstead immediately felt at home in the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area. He liked the rhythm of the city, the fast-paced lifestyle and the intensity of the fans. Ask Armstead about his career and he talks about people, not games or plays.

"We fought so many times and the way the fans and organization responded ... everybody loved winning around there," he said. "That's what comes to your mind when you think of New York. They demand a lot out of you and that's how I grew up, with a lot demanded out of me. So I was just right at home. People say how do you blend right into New York, but it was easy for me."

            Armstead was the 207th player chosen in the 1993 draft, and the last of the Giants' seven selections (the first-round pick had been used on quarterback Dave Brown in the previous year's supplemental draft). Three of the seven players taken were linebackers: Marcus Buckley (No. 66) and Tommy Thigpen (No. 123), who never did much, and Armstead, who did it all. Armstead's draft was the last that had an eighth round.

"A lot of great linebackers came out that year, but I think my career overshadowed what they did," he said.

He was a special teams dynamo and top-flight reserve his first three seasons before becoming the starting weakside linebacker in 1996. Armstead had a team-high 114 tackles, the first of five consecutive seasons with more than 100. The next year, he had a career-best 134 stops, was selected to his first Pro Bowl and was a catalyst as the Giants won the NFC East title. In 2000 he had one of his best seasons and the Giants routed Minnesota, 41-0, in the NFC Championship Game.

"The NFC Championship game was a big highlight of my career," Armstead said. "Losing the Super Bowl (to the Baltimore Ravens) was low and it sent me in a spiral, because I was so upset. I was just mad at the world at the time. We should have lined back up and made it the next year."

But the Giants went 7-9 that season. Armstead's tackle total dipped to 88, but he still played in his fifth Pro Bowl.

Armstead played sideline-to-sideline with speed and what can best be described as controlled recklessness. At 6-1 and 240 pounds, he delivered punishing hits to unfortunate ballcarriers. He was also a highly-respected and well-liked locker room leader who privately scolded teammates when they didn't perform to his standards, inspired them to greater deeds when they did and was a stand-up guy for the media.

In 2002, the Giants restructured their roster and Armstead signed with the Redskins, for whom he played for two years.

"I knew I belonged in New York no matter what uniform I had on," Armstead said. "I had to go out there and fight for the team that gave me another opportunity, but I knew where I belonged."

He signed in 2004 with the Carolina Panthers, coached by former Giants defensive coordinator John Fox, but a biceps injury prevented him from playing any games. The following year he had a tryout with the Giants, but didn't sign.

"I said if I wasn't going to play with New York, I wasn't going to play anymore and I stuck with it," Armstead said.

In Washington, he had become close friends with another linebacker, Antonio Pierce. When Pierce became a free agent following the 2004 season, Armstead steered him to the Giants. Last year, Pierce became the first Giants linebacker to play in the Pro Bowl since Armstead.

"When I got to Washington he played behind me and I helped him out and he would learn from my style of play also and it carried on with him," Armstead said. "When he became a free agent, I pushed for him to come to New York, because I knew that was the place for him and I knew the way he played. I knew they were trying to find that player (to replace him) when I left there. (Pierce) was the linebacker that came closest to me and that's who I recommended. Fortunately, he got an opportunity to sign with them."

Armstead remains close to the Giants. He attended 10 regular season games last year, including all eight home games.

"I paid over $100,000 for a suite and then wouldn't go up to it," said Armstead, who instead migrated to the bench area. "That just wasn't me, being up there in a suite looking at the guys on the field. I've got to be there right there with them. I couldn't play with them, but I had to be right there with them."

Armstead is about to close on a house in the area and will split his time between New Jersey and Dallas. He now makes his living in the auto industry. Armstead just purchased a Hyundai dealership in New Rochelle, N.Y., he is a partner in an Infiniti dealership in Englewood, N.J. and he is in the process of building a Honda dealership in Hamilton, N.J.

"It's a great business," Armstead said. "Cars are always going to be around. I've got some real good partners. But there's nothing like football. There won't be anything that can replace the feel of the game, the smell of the grass and everything else that goes with it."

Including that feeling of wearing a Giants uniform.

"I've got deep attachments to the organization," Armstead said.  "They've always been good to me and I know everybody around there."

Today, he and the Giants ensured they would always be teamed together.