Larry Donnell was signed by the Giants as an undrafted free agent in 2012. He wears the number 84 jersey for the New York Giants.
As a quarterback at Grambling State Donnell threw for two passes his freshman in 2007, and completing one of them for a 51-yard touchdown. Late that season he had switched to the tight end position putting his basketball skills from high school to work, on the football field.
He caught a combined 32 passes in his sophomore and junior seasons, eight of them for touchdowns. He was on the Giants practice squad during the 2012 season and played primarily special teams during the 2013 season. He became the starting Giants tight end during the 2014 season.
Donnell played football for four seasons at Grambling State University. He switched from quarterback to tight end during his freshman year. He finished his college career with 38 receptions for 432 yards and 11 touchdowns as a tight end. After his senior season at Grambling State, Donnell was not invited to the NFL Scouting Combine Donnell, but later he signed with the Giants as an undrafted free agent on March 13, 2012.
He was waived by the Giants on August 31, 2012 and signed to the Giants practice squad on September 1, 2012. He was signed to a reserve/future contract by the Giants on September 2, 2013. He played on special teams for the entire regular season and started one game as a tight end. He finished the season with 3 receptions for 31 yards. On September 25, 2014, in a nationally televised game on Thursday Night Football, Donnell scored 3 touchdowns on 7 receptions for 54 yards. It was the first time a Giants tight end had scored three touchdowns since 1962.
Throughout the 2014 season Donnell emerged as one of Eli Manning’s favorite targets. On March 4, the Giants tendered Donnell, which yield him three-year veteran minimum salary of $585,000 over one-year.
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