Osi files affidavit on Giants contract

Osi Umenyiora, a named plaintiff in the players' antitrust lawsuit against the NFL, has given a sworn affidavit that the Giants promised to address his contract situation but never did.

The defensive end's statement will be included in the lawsuit the players are filing in Minnesota.

"In early April 2008, approximately two weeks before the start of the New York Giants offseason conditioning program, I, Osi Umenyiora, had a meeting with the general manager of the New York Giants, Mr. Jerry Reese," Umenyiora said in a document first obtained by ESPN.

"After about an hour of discussing my current contract, as well as the contracts of other defensive ends currently playing in the National Football League, Mr. Reese told me that two years from the start of the 2008 league year, if I was currently playing at a high level, we'd either renegotiate my current contract so that it would be equal to that of the top five defensive ends playing or I would be traded to a team that would do that.

"Before leaving the meeting, I asked Mr. Reese twice if he was absolutely sure that would be the case. He then told me that he was an honest and church-going man and that he would not lie, which I believed to be the case. Under the penalty of perjury these statements are true and accurate."

Coming off a Super Bowl title and about to assume a mantle of prestige and responsibility thanks to the retirement of Michael Strahan, Umenyiora was so dissatisfied with his contract heading into the 2008 season that he was considering a holdout. He eventually decided against it, most likely after his discussion with Reese.

Umenyiora wound up missing all of the 2008 season with a knee injury he suffered in a preseason game. In 2009 he had seven sacks but was benched late in the year. Again, at the end of that season, he publicly speculated that his future with the team was coming to an end.

Entering the 2010 season, Umenyiora said that he would rather retire than play as a backup for the Giants. He wound up starting all 16 games for the team and had 11.5 sacks and an NFL-record 10 forced fumbles.

Umenyiora, 29, still has two years remaining on the six-year, $41 million extension he signed late in the 2005 season.

Neither the Giants nor Umenyiora's agent, Tony Agnone, had comment on the affidavit.

ESPN also reported that Umenyiora has cleared out his home in New Jersey and is living full-time in the Atlanta area where he owns a home.