Patriots vs. Giants: New York and Osi Umenyiora to Split After Super Bowl XLVI?

In an article by George Willis of the New York Post, Willis believes Super Bowl XLVI could be the end for Osi Umenyiora as a New York Giant:

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He has one year remaining on a $41 million deal he signed in 2005. Attempts last summer to renegotiate nearly turned ugly and could become contentious enough this offseason to prompt the Giants to trade the former Pro Bowl defensive end.

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To seemingly increase the odds, Willis added about Umenyiora's fellow defensive linesmen:

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With Jason Paul-Pierre looking like a future star, the Giants will have to send big money his way soon, and there might not be enough in the budget to pay Justin Tuck, Pierre-Paul and Umenyiora.

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As for whether this should happen or not, well, it's a tough break for both parties.

For starters, Umenyiora has been with the Giants since 2003 and been named to two Pro Bowls and selected to two All-Pro teams. Before the 2011 season began, he had played in all 16 games five times and always at a high level.

Three times he recorded 10-plus sacks including the NFL's sack leader in 2005 (14.5) and holds an NFL record for most forced fumbles in a season (10 in 2010).

However, he's not just a sack-master either.

In the five years that he played a full season, Umenyiora averaged 51.4 tackles per season along with 13 fumble recoveries. The man simply knows how to find the quarterback, causes fumbles and make tackles elsewhere.

He's a complete defensive end that draws double-teams, can anchor the edge against the run to keep contain and is virtually unblockable in one-on-one situations.

Now, despite some of the off the field contract and minor health issues, every time that Umenyiora was on the field he produced for "The Big Blue Wrecking Crew." He's easily one of the biggest reasons why the Giants front four has been so dominant during the 21st century, but then again, the torch is likely being passed to Pierre-Paul.

As a rookie in 2003, Umenyiora had the luxury of playing with Michael Strahan until after the 2007 season. That being said, we all know how dominant of a pass rusher Strahan was but for those that love NFL history, Osi's pass-rushing torch came from Lawrence Taylor.

The 1993 season was Taylor's last season in the pros, but Strahan was a rookie and you can bet No. 92 learned something from No. 56, which is now being passed on to the next great pass-rushing specialist in "The Big Apple."

Regardless of what happens with Umenyiora and the Giants this offseason, he's only 30 years old so there are a lot of quarterbacks still to be sacked. That said, for the sake of Giants fans and the organization, let's hope Osi remains in New York.

Because if not, Big Blue just took a big hit to its front four despite still having Tuck, Chris Canty and Pierre-Paul.

John Rozum on Twitter.