New York Giants: Should They Give Osi Umenyiora a Contract Extension?

We're about a month away from free agency in the NFL from kicking off. General managers will have to decide which players will need to be released and which players they want to bring in for the 2012 season.

Giants GM Jerry Reese needs to make a decision on one particular player: Osi Umenyiora.

In the past, Umenyiora has expressed a lot of displeasure with his current contract, which he signed at the end of the 2005 season. He has one year for $3.975 million remaining left on it, and he would really like to get something done.

Before the 2011 season started, Umenyiora sat out of the beginning of training camp, but eventually he started to practice.

Some thought the Giants could have tried to trade Umenyiora because of his displeasure with the Giants and Reese in not getting a new deal following the 2010 season, but Umenyiora had to have arthroscopic surgery on his knee in August. That knee surgery took out any chance of the Giants potentially trading him then, and he didn't return to the Giants until October 2 in their game against the Cardinals.

During the 2011 season, he played in just nine games, battling nagging injuries all year long. But in those nine regular season games, Umenyiora recorded nine sacks and two forced fumbles.

In the playoffs, Umenyiora had a total of 3.5 sacks and was a huge part of the Giants pass rush that, at times, looked unstoppable in the NFC playoff picture.

Umenyiora just turned 30 back in November, and I think he still has a few good years of football left in him if he can stay healthy.

If Reese doesn't want to break up the current unit of pass rushers the Giants have, then maybe it is time for the Giants and their defensive end to sit down and work on a new deal.

Current Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul was very vocal after the Super Bowl about the situation and said that the Giants should give Umenyiora what he wants. Nobody wants to see Umenyiora try to hold out again during training camp, because it causes a distraction.

If Reese did trade him, because of Umenyiora's value right now, he could probably get some decent draft picks in return for him. But if he doesn't want to trade him, then Reese and Umenyiora should sit down and try to work something out. I think at least a four-year extension could be very reasonable, given that, with the NFL contracts, not all of the money in a player's deal is guaranteed.

The last thing the Giants players, all the Giant fans, Tom Coughlin and Jerry Reese would want is another attempted holdout from Umenyiora. Their next training camp should be a fun one after just winning the Super Bowl. The last thing they need is the black cloud of a holdout from a disgruntled player.

So, hopefully, before August, the Giants resolve this situation before it ever has to get any worse. And if Reese doesn't trade him, then hopefully Umenyiora does in fact get his new deal with the Giants.