Osi Umenyiora is almost certainly going to play somewhere else next season, but he promises that whichever team signs him will be signing the Defensive Player of the Year. That’s what he guaranteed Friday night during an appearance on NFL Network’s Total Access show. Asked what teams he’d be willing to sign with when the free-agent market opens on Tuesday, the 31-year-old said, “It would be anybody that I think would need me to help them win and anyone who is going to put me in a situation to win Defensive Player of the Year -- which is what I am going to do this year.†That’s quite a boast for Umenyiora, who had just six sacks last season. However, Umenyiora – who after years of contract squabbles with the Giants said he wants “to go see what is out there†on the market – scoffed at the notion he’s become a “situational pass rusher†over the last few years. “It is ridiculous,†he said. “Right now in the NFL (teams are) throwing the ball six out of 10 times, sometimes seven out of 10. Then you have a guy who is a great – or very good – pass rusher and you put him in the field for three of those 10 situations? That doesn’t make any sense. You are losing money, losing value there. “I think in today’s NFL, those guys who play the run exceptionally well should be the situational players not the pass rusher. You need to have the pass rushers on the field all the time.†Source: New York Daily News
