Injury Updates on Hakeem Nicks and Prince Amukamara

OTAs Begin Again Today: The Giants will hold three consecutive days of Organized Team Activity (OTA) workouts at the Timex Performance Center starting today.

Hakeem Nicks Optimistic He Will Return Soon: WR Hakeem Nicks underwent surgery last Friday to have a screw inserted into the broken bone in his right foot. Nicks fractured the fifth metatarsal last Thursday during the Giants’ second Organized Team Activity (OTA) workout.

The Giants said before the surgery that Nicks would be out of action for 12 weeks. Nicks believes he will return much earlier than that.

“‘I’ll be back for training camp’ were his final words (to me on the phone on Sunday),” said Head Coach Tom Coughlin. “I said OK. I would accept a day or two after the start of camp, (that) would be fine. I really appreciated his optimism. He has a cast and is elevated. He told me he was pretty much pain-free.”

Last summer, CB Prince Amukamara broke his fifth metatarsal early in training camp and also had a screw surgically inserted into his foot. Amukamara missed all of the preseason and the first nine regular-season games. Amukamara had a stem cell injection procedure performed in March 2012 to facilitate further healing.

“Some people can come back in six weeks, and some people take three months,” Amukamara said of the injury.

WR Domenik Hixon suffered the same injury in 2006. “It takes about three months or so,’’ Hixon said. “It’s not really the healing part, it’s getting back into shape and doing all that. (Nicks) stays in shape so that won’t be a problem.”

CB Prince Amukamara Begins Running: CB Prince Amukamara, who fractured the fifth metatarsal in his left foot last August, has begun running again after having a follow-up stem cell injection procedure in March 2012. Amukamara missed most of training camp, all of the preseason, and the first nine games of the regular season with the injury after having a surgical procedure to insert a screw into the foot in August 2011.

“The bone wasn’t healing as fast as they wanted it to even though I said I felt great,” said Amukamara, speaking of the injection procedure. “But they just wanted to make sure everything looked good and matched with how I felt.”

“It feels great,” said Amukamara. “I started running on the grass today. Just doing some little stuff… running some sprints, doing the figure eight to feel if there is any tenderness. First time I ran since the procedure.”

“I think it just depends on how I’m feeling,” Amukamara said. “If I start feeling 100 percent everyday and there’s not soreness, I think they’ll let me (practice at next month’s mini-camp).”

Quotes: DE Justin Tuck on DE Osi Umenyiora’s contract situation: “It’s hard. He signed a contract and I believe in abiding by that contract, but also I think he’s outplayed that contract in today’s market. I think he deserves to get paid. Obviously I’m rooting for him to end his career as a Giant.But you also understand the business aspect of things and at the end of the day I just hope everything works out for him and his family and the Giants.’’