At long last, Osi Umenyiora has a new contract.
The New York Giants announced this afternoon that the veteran defensive end has agreed to a restructured contract that should end more than a year of discontent. The terms of the new deal were not revealed by the club.
“I appreciate Osi’s patience and effort through this process,” general manager Jerry Reese said, according to the team’s Web site. “We talked it out, and it makes sense for everybody involved. We are very pleased, excited and looking forward to seeing number 72 on the field at Monday’s OTA.”
Umenyiora has not participated in the team’s voluntary offseason workout program to date. Now, he will show up with a smile on his face. Recently, Umenyiora parted ways with his agent Tony Agnone. It is unknown if Agnone played a role in brokering this new deal. He was entering the final year of his contract and was due to earn $3.925 million this season.
We’ll find out soon if the Giants have added years to the deal.
“I’m just happy, I’m happy all that’s over with,” Umenyiora said. “It’s time to get back to work. It was definitely frustrating (not being on the field this spring), but hearing some of the things they said, whether it was Kiwi or (Justin) Tuck or JPP (Jason Pierre-Paul) or Antrel (Rolle) – hearing the way they supported me, it made me want to come back even more and be around them. Those guys really stepped up for me. I really appreciate it and I’m happy to be here with them.
“This gives me peace of mind, definitely,” Umenyiora said. “We just resolved a situation. It really was affecting me in a bad way. Because I didn’t like all the negativity that was surrounding the whole situation. I couldn’t stand it, because if you know me, you know I’m not that type of person. I’m just happy all that is over with and I’ll be there. I’ll play out this contract, I’ll play this year and I’ll play my heart out.”
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Brad Biggs covers the Bears for the Chicago Tribune