Umenyiora tells Giants He'll Quit if He Doesn't Start

Well Giants fans, as if this season wasn't hard enough. Not only did your defense give up the third most points in the league, and after starting 5-0 you went into a serious tailspin, but now your best defensive player is complaining. Osi Umenyiora, who was relegated to a third-down rusher for the last five games, has stated that if he is not going to start for the Giants next season, he will quit.

"I'm not going to be a backup player, I can promise you that," Umenyiora said in an interview on WFAN Wednesday. "I'll stop playing football before I do that ever again."

Could this be the end of his Giants career? After the final game at Giants Stadium, Umenyiora suggested that he might not be a Giant in the future. He said later that week that he wanted to play for the Giants, but there had to be changes. Many interpreted that as meaning the dismissal of Sheridan, but Umenyiora said that wasn't the case. Clearly he was talking more about his role in the defense and whether he can be an every-down defensive end or just a role player.

"Did it go through my mind? Obviously yes," Umenyiora said of the possibility that his days as a Giant were over. "You come to a situation where you've been here for a long time and you won [a] Super Bowl, you've been to the Pro Bowl a couple of times, and then things like that start happening. You start getting benched, you're coming in on a third-down rush, I think it almost seemed as if the writing was on the wall at that particular time. I felt like I had worn out my welcome."

Let's be honest here, Umenyiora is probably the best and most dynamic player on that defense. Alright, so he had a down year, who doesn't?! I think this whole thing well eventually pass over as we get deeper into the offseason. The Giants just came off of a season in which only one other team in franchise history gave up more points, who wouldn't be frustrated?

I completely understand Umenyiora's frustration, but I think he is taking it a little too far. My opinion is that he will be returning to his starting role, if he hasn't already, but when your team is struggling as much as the Giants were, you try and shake things up to get something going. Umenyiora has to understand THAT, but I guess not.

Maybe new defensive coordinator Perry Fewell can light a fire under the Giants defenders' butts the way former defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo could. Who knows? It's way to early to make that assessment, but if he can't look for Umenyiora to speak out again.

I say that Umenyiora is with the Giants next season, but if they play like this again next year then he's gone after 2011. However, if the Giants play defense like the Giants of old, Umenyiora may even get an extension.