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Osi Umenyiora Retires As Member Of New York Giants

By Kenneth Teape

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Osi Umenyiora decided that he was going to retire and walk away from the NFL a couple of weeks ago. It became official yesterday, as he signed a one day contract with the New York Giants so that he could retire as a member of the team in which he started his career with in 2003.

Umenyiora, a former All-Pro and multi-time Pro Bowler, was an integral part of the Giants winning two Super Bowl titles against the New England Patriots in 2007 and 2011. He was part of the vaunted NASCAR package that defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo made famous on their title run as he combined with the likes of Michael Strahan, Justin Tuck, Jason Pierre-Paul and Mathias Kiwanuka to wreck havoc on opposing quarterbacks.

The Giants had a touching video tribute set up for Umenyiora Tuesday before he addressed the media on Tuesday. Among the people in attendance for the ceremony was Giants’ team president and CEO John Mara, general manager Jerry Reese and head coach Tom Coughlin.

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Umenyiora was also cracking jokes and showing off his infectious smile, starting the presser off by saying, “When it was first announced that this day was gonna come, I think it was maybe about three weeks ago. Some of you might have been wondering what took so long. I just want you guys to know that for the past three weeks, I’ve been in negotiations with Jerry Reese about the terms of this one-day contract. I wanted a two-day contract, but obviously Jerry wasn’t going for that.”

It was nice to see Umenyiora making jokes of a situation that got ugly at times earlier in his career. At times, the negotiations between Umenyiora and the Giants were strenuous, as Umenyiora felt he was worth one thing while the Giants felt differently. That all seems to be water under the bridge now though, as Umenyiora spoke glowingly and showered praise upon Reese.

"“I really must thank Mr. Reese, Jerry, for everything that he did. I know that I was a real knucklehead at times, and for him to be as professional as he was and to handle that situation the way he did, it really showed what type of man he was, and me and him remain friends and we’re going to remain friends forever.”"

There was no denying the talent that Umenyiora had though, as he was one of the most vaunted pass rushers of his time. The former second round pick out of Troy picked up 75 of his 85 career sack in his 10 seasons with the Giants. The 75 sacks place him fourth on the Giants’ All-Time list, trailing only Strahan, Lawrence Taylor and Leonard Marshall, who recorded 141.5, 132.5 and 79.5 respectively.

At 33-years of age, Umenyiora could still give something to a team in a situational pass rushing role. He even received an offer from a team as recently as Tuesday; it is being reported that it was the New York Jets, but he turned them down. He says that he is feeling great physically as well, but when he made the decision to step away he meant it.

"“Once I made the decision a little while ago, I said to myself [that] I already know what it’s like playing for another franchise — and Atlanta was great, no doubt about that. But for me, it was either I was gonna play for the Giants or I wasn’t gonna play football at all. And once I became truly aware that obviously the Giants have some young players they need to develop who would play the same position that I would be playing — and if I was there I would do nothing but stunt their grown … Once I became aware and I understood that, I said to myself ‘Why not retire?’ I’m not gonna be a journeyman defensive end. I don’t deserve that. So I made the decision to do that, and thankfully the Giants were gracious enough to let me do this.”"

Umenyiora shined with the cameras on him, looking like a natural in front of them as he prepares to take a job in London, where he was born, with the NFL. One of the highlights from the presser was when he said he was going to become the Michael Strahan of London, as Strahan has parlayed his playing career into a very successful career on television. He followed in the footsteps of Strahan on the field, it is only fitting that he will follow him off of it as well.

Next: Who was the best Giants' player of 2014?

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