Umenyiora reflects on his future with Giants

ALBANY - Maybe it's the hip injury he's been dealing with for several years. Maybe it's his role on this year's team. Or maybe it's just him looking around and realizing that there's only one player in the locker room who has been a Giant longer than he has.

Either way, Osi Umenyiora seems to be coming to grips with the end of his career. Wednesday, in his first comments since the start of training camp, the defensive end spoke about how much longer he'd like to play, what he is and isn't willing to do to prolong his career, and how determined he is to focus on the upcoming season which he termed "probably the most important year of my life."

Umenyiora struggled with pain in his hip from a 2006 injury this offseason but he and the Giants' doctors decided that he would not have surgery and instead manage the injury since there appears to be no way to further damage the joint. Surgery could prolong his career, of course, but probably at the expense of the upcoming season. And even a longer career doesn't seem to be a reason for Umenyiora to, as he put it, "get cut open again."

"Sometimes I'm like, really, what am I prolonging my career for?" he said. "I mean, everything that I wanted coming into the NFL, everything I wanted, I've accomplished, whether that's winning a Super Bowl or being an all-star player or being financially secure. I've accomplished all that already, so I'm not sure that that's something I want to continue to do and that's why I elected not to have the surgery because at this point, this year, this season is more important to me."

Umenyiora said in his best-case scenario he would play four more years. That would have him retiring at age 32 after 12 NFL seasons. With three years left on his Giants contract, though, it would also likely have him retiring in another team's uniform. Whether Umenyiora was conscious of his four-year goal and three years remaining not jiving is uncertain. But the fact that the former Pro Bowler is starting to not only ask himself how much longer he can play but come up with answers is more telling than any discrepancy in the number of years.

Umenyiora said he's been dealing with "flare-ups" in the hip for many years. "I wasn't even sure I was going to play in the Super Bowl, honestly, because it flared up right before that game," he said. "So you never can tell what can happen."

While he tries to manage the pain in his hip - he's been limited to one practice per day so far in training camp - Umenyiora appears to want to be less of a pain in the neck for the organization. He still wants to start and he still believes he is one of the team's best defensive ends, but his statements during the offseason and threats that he would retire if he wasn't starting in 2010 seem to be behind him.

"Obviously I've been very selfish in the past with my demands and some of the things that I have wanted, but I don't really feel that way anymore right now," he said. "There's enough playing time for everybody. As soon as I get on that playing field I'm going to make plays, period. No matter where they put me. If I'm coming off the bench, I'm just going to be the best bench player ever, so whatever they require me to do, I think they're going to use me to the best of my abilities because this team wants to win.

"It's not a personal vendetta against me or anything that I've done in the past," he said of his demotion late last season. "I think that everybody needs to be a little bit less selfish and realize that there's enough playing time, there's enough money, there's enough everything out there for everybody and I think we'll be good to go."