New York Giants Must Listen to Jason Pierre-Paul, Give Osi Umenyiora New Deal

The New York Giants have a lot of tough decisions to make over the coming weeks, and one of the priorities has to be keeping their vaunted pass rush together.

Osi Umenyiora hasn’t been happy with his contract from almost the day he signed it and will be due $3.975 million in the last year of his deal.

I know, that’s a ton of money for 99 percent of the country, but Umenyiora’s value is even higher. Teammate and fellow defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul agrees (per NY Post):

"

That’s a great guy and trust me, a guy like that on your team, he’s a playmaker. Just us three defensive ends, we’ve got a couple more on the line, but I feel like we’re all on there together, it’s unstoppable. Who’s going to stop us? We’ve got the best defensive line in the country, and everybody sees that. So bring him back. 

I think it’s very important. Give him what he wants, man.

"

GM Jerry Reese played hardball with Umenyiora this past year in training camp when he was presented with a holdout threat. Umenyiora ended up injured and missed the majority of the abbreviated prep time for the 2011 season but worked his way back into playing shape. He registered nine sacks in nine games and added 25 tackles and two forced fumbles during the regular season, plus another 3.5 sacks and a forced fumble in the postseason.

Sweetening the deal would ensure a happy camper that is vital to a D-line that predicates on depth and the terrific chemistry they all share.  At the age of 30, a new three-year deal will ensure the Giants get him for the rest of his prime before the decline begins.

Meanwhile, (per CBS Sports, Reese doesn’t sound like he’s ready to toss gobs of cash at him, saying, "Osi is under contract but we’ll discuss everything as a staff and we’ll discuss all issues that could possibly come up with us."

Hmmmm, sounds like he isn’t exactly ready to negotiate.The organization has plenty of free agents (Mario Manningham, Aaron Ross) to evaluate on its own team and on the open market as well. Can the Giants afford to throw more money at him?

The Giants pass defense is one of the worst, but when you have a consistent pass rush those blemishes can be covered up. While I’m not suggesting the unit would fall apart without Umenyiora, it would be severely damaged and the rest of his D-line teammates won’t be happy with management. Umenyiora will then give the team another season of less than 100 percent effort and will have one foot out the door.

Obviously, a decision doesn’t have to be made for six months, but the sooner the Giants take care of Umenyiora the sooner the team can start thinking about a two-peat.