AUGUST 26, 9:00am: Umenyiora has officially announced his retirement, tweets Adam Caplan of ESPN.com.
AUGUST 24, 1:44pm: Umenyiora will officially announce his retirement prior to the Giants’ Wednesday practice, according to Vacchiano (via Twitter).
JULY 27, 1:48pm: According to Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News (via Twitter), Umenyiora will sign a one-day contract with the Giants “soon” in order to officially retire with the team.
1:37pm: Veteran pass rusher Osi Umenyiora hasn’t drawn a ton of interest on the free agent market this offseason, and it sounds as if the former Giant may return to his old team on a ceremonial contract before he retires. According to Adam Caplan and Dan Graziano of ESPN.com (Twitter link), the Giants and Umenyiora are discussing the possibility of a one-day contract for the 33-year-old, so he can retire as a Giant.
Umenyiora, selected in the second round of the 2003 draft by the Giants, has spent most of his NFL career in New York, playing a key role on the team’s two Super Bowl-winning squads in 2007 and 2011. The Troy product earned a pair of Pro Bowl nods, and had three seasons of double-digit sacks between 2005 and 2010. Umenyiora joined the Falcons for the 2013 season and played a part-time role in Atlanta, recording total 10 total sacks over the last two seasons.
Giants co-owner John Mara suggested back in March that he’d like to see Umenyiora retire as a Giant, though at the time I assumed that would mean signing him for perhaps one more year, rather than just one day. It’s not clear whether or not Umenyiora wants to continue his career, but even with Jason Pierre-Paul‘s status still up in the air, it doesn’t look like the veteran free agent will be joining the Giants for the 2015 season.
I’m a little surprised he didn’t hang on for one more year. I didn’t think he looked done last season. He’s not quite a Hall of Famer — just outside the top 100 in terms of AV among DEs since the merger — but a good, at times underrated player.