Giants | Osi Umenyiora believes starting job his to lose
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Tue, 15 Jun 2010 13:23:55 -0400

New York Giants DE Osi Umenyiora said he believes the starting defensive end is his job to lose and believes his backup role to DE Mathias Kiwanuka is temporary, according to New York Daily News' Ralph Vacchiano. "I feel like I'm still one of the best defensive ends in the league in my head. That's pretty much all that counts. If I really decided to start thinking about (having to win the job), it's not going to be good for this team at all," Umenyiora said.

Osi Umenyiora OK with backup role with New York Giants - for now

By Ralph Vacchiano
Daily News Sports Writer

Tuesday, June 15th 2010, 2:14 PM
New York Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora doesn't think he'll be a backup for very long.


Osi Umenyiora opened up the Giants' mini-camp Tuesday the same way he ended his miserable 2009 season - as a second-string defensive end. And he insists he's OK with that unwanted role.

Sort of. And for now.

"If I truly was not the best player, then I'd be cool with it," Umenyiora said after Tuesday morning's practice. "But if I feel like I am the best player - and everybody in this league knows the type of player I am - the minute in my mind I'm playing the way I'm capable of playing and I'm not on the field, then of course it's going to be a problem."

Consider that a bit of a warning shot that Umenyiora still isn't thrilled with a situation that had him threatening to retire back in February. He said most of the right things, insisting that he wouldn't be a distraction and he'd "maintain a positive attitude" no matter what his role ends up being.

But he also made it clear that he believes his role as a backup to Mathias Kiwanuka is temporary, and that he views the starting job as his to lose.

"I definitely don't look at it that way at all," Umenyiora said when asked if he felt like he had to win the job this summer. "I feel like I'm still one of the best defensive ends in the league in my head. That's pretty much all that counts. If I really decided to start thinking about (having to win the job), it's not going to be good for this team at all."

Umenyiora did get some work in with the first team today, as new defensive coordinator Perry Fewell rotating him and Kiwanuka - - something that likely will happen during the regular season, too. Umenyiora said he hasn't spoken with Fewell about the specifics of that rotation or how much playing time each of the ends - - including Justin Tuck, Dave Tollefson and first-round pick Jason Pierre-Paul - can expect to receive.

It didn't sound like he planned to have that conversation, either.

"All I know is the best players have to play this year," Umenyiora said. "You understand? They have to. We have to win. There's no question about that. There's too much on the line right now. If it ends up that I'm not in there, then I know in my heart that I truly wasn't the best player. And I'll be OK with that."

Except that Umenyiora likely would never concede that he's not the best player. He still believes he was the best player last year, despite being benched for Kiwanuka after Thanksgiving ("I just know that when I wasn't in there, was there a dramatic improvement?" Umenyiora said. "Did we get better?"). And when a reporter suggested to him that Kiwanuka won't be easy to beat out for a job this summer, Umenyiora said "You don't think so?"

"He's a good football player, no question about that, no argument there," Umenyiora said. "Been to Hawaii though? It's hard. Very, very difficult. You have to be of a certain pedigree to get over there."

Still, this all may have been more of a show of confidence from Umenyiora, rather than the defiance that was on display earlier in the offseason. He wasn't demanding his starting job back, as he did back in February. This time he was saying that he deserved it.

That's a somewhat softer approach that Umenyiora said he's taking because he knows that his behavior - - which included storming out of a defensive meeting after a dispute with former defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan - - was a distraction to the Giants last year.

"That was my fault," he said. "I made the mistake of behaving (badly) last year. It was very selfish of me because I wasn't thinking of the total team concept and looking at the way people would respond to me doing something like that."

So, while he said it's "definitely different and it's definitely difficult" being a backup, he's willing to deal with it … for now.

"You just have to have the intestinal fortitude to be able to handle things like that, the mental capacity to handle things like that," he said. "If not, then I'd just go out there lay down and not do anything. I can not allow that to happen. No way. I must go out there and play the way I'm capable of playing."

And if he does that, he believes he'll be back with the first team soon enough.

If not? Well, stay tuned.