Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora is hours away from listening to offers in free agency for the first time.
But he has high expectations for the process, and himself.
Umenyiora said he was looking for a team that could win, where he could be the best defensive player in the league.
“It wouldn’t have to be a playoff team,” Umenyiora told the NFL Network, via Jenny Vrentas of the Newark Star-Ledger. “It could be anybody pretty much anybody who would need me to help them win, and anybody who I think is going to put me in a situation to win Defensive Player of the Year, which is what I’m going to do this year.”
Oh, if that’s all it takes.
Umenyiora insisted there was a chance he returns to the Giants, though that seems unlikely at this point, with several playoff ready teams looking for pass-rushers.
Umenyiora called the process, which begins tonight with an 87-hour negotiating period, “a little strange.”
“My phone is on. I’m not turning my phone off. I’m open to pretty much every situation right now,” Umenyiora said. “I’d like to go to a situation where I’d be able to win. Everybody likes to say that, but I really mean that. Wherever puts me in the best situation to really go out there and showcase my skills and help them win, I think that’s where I want to go.”
He’s done that in New York, but he finally has a platform to see if someone else thinks he can be the player of the year, considering the Giants don’t view him as a starter any longer.