It happened in the blink of an eye. What was once the Giants greatest strength coming into the season quickly became a glaring weakness and now the Giants have reached out to the recently retired former Giant great Michael Strahan in hope of having him return to the team to replace the inured Osi Umenyiora.
Umenyiora’s injury occured in the second quarter of the Giants preseason game against the Jets. While trying to bull rush a lineman Osi twisted his knee awkwardly sustaining ligament damage that will sideline him for the rest of the season. Inital reports from the team had stated that there was no ligament damage to the knee, but upon further examination docotrs discovered that Umenyiora would require season ending surgery.
Now the Giants are left hoping that Strahan can come out of retirement and continue to play at the level he did last season. Strahan is currently on vacation in Greece, but his agent Tony Agnone has been in talks with the Giants officials about a possible comeback.
For the time being, however, the Giants have moved Mathias Kiwanuka back to defensive end, the same position he manned throughout his college career and in his first season with the Giants. Linebacker Danny Clark who was signed by the Giants in the offseason will move to strong side linebacker , while Gerris Wilkinson will man the weak side.
Strahan had mulled retirement last season , missing all of training camp before returning to the team to help lead them to their Super Bowl victory over the Patriots. However, unlike last season when Strahan had continued to work out to try and maintain a football physique he has done little this off season to keep himself in playing shape.
Sources have stated that Strahan is seriously considering the comeback, but he expects to make at least $8 million for the season and could demand as much as $12 million. The Giants do have $12 million available under the salaray cap, but it is unlikely that they would offer Strahan the full $12 million just in case moves need to be made during the season.
Strahan is scheduled to begin work for Fox’s NFL pregame show, yet executives at Fox have told Strahan that his job would be waiting for him should he decide to accept the Giants offer.
Giants co-owner Steve Tisch has expressed his interest in Strahan returning to the Giants,
“Would I like Michael to be a New York Giant this season? Absolutely. Absolutel. Will he be? I have no idea. I don’t even want to put a percentage on it but things changed very quickly [Saturday] night and if one of the potential solutions is to reach out to Michael, worst-case, it’s certainly worth a phone call.”
While there is some optimism about a possible Strahan return around the organization, many of Strahan’s former teammates are not as optimistic.
Justin Tuck the man who replaced Strahan at defensive end has this to say, “As I know it, he is probably on a beach somewhere sipping on some pina coladas, so I doubt football is the first thing on his mind today.”
What we do know is that we’ve already seen one great make a return from retirement in New York and now its possible that we may see another. The Giants season may hinge on it.