New York Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora as the support of both Justin Tuck and Mathias Kiwanuka, who both believe he deserves to get paid.
“It’s hard,” Tuck said on ROME, a new show on the CBS Sports Network, per Ralph Vaacchiano of the NY Daily News. “He’s signed a contract and I believe in abiding by that contract, but also I think he’s outplayed that contract in today’s market. And how some of these defensive ends are getting paid lots of money, I think he deserves to get paid.”
Kiwanuka says that Umenyiora has been stuck with a bad contract for years.
“He’s been under contract in a bad deal for years now,” Kiwanuka said following today’s OTA per the Newark Star-Ledger. “Anybody who looks at the situation would say, ‘Well, this should’ve been taken care of a long time ago.’ For whatever reason it hasn’t so I understand his frustration. I know that it wasn’t a slight at me. I know he was just trying to get his point across.”
“If he was signed to a deal that was twice that and performed half of what he is, he would’ve been cut by now,” the linebacker said. “That’s just the reality of this game, but the fact that he’s signed to a lower-salary deal and he’s playing at a high level – 10-plus sacks every year – the fact that has nothing been done with it, it’s an obvious issue. It’d be an issue for anybody out here so I understand his frustration.”
I agree with Kiwanuka that Umenyiora has been stuck with a bad deal, but at the end of the day he agreed to sign that bad deal and now unfortunately he has to live with it.
