“Rex Ryan, when I was coming out of college he was with Baltimore at the time and he came down to work me out at Troy, he came to Atlanta, just me and him," the soon-to-be free agent told the NY Post Thursday.
"We had a pretty good time out there so I’ve always enjoyed him as a coach and as a person. That might be a good fit. Hopefully it will be with the Giants.’’ (photo: Mike Morbeck, Flickr)
During Umenyiora's near-decade-long tenure with the G-Men, he has been unable to work out an extension, a new deal or any other type of wiggle room, aside from a salary bump last season. Simply put, pass rushers are disposable in Big Blue's defense, because they have a surplus of them.
“I think now is probably the time to move on," Umenyiora said after the season.
While the Giants are chock-full of pass rushers, the Jets are in desperate need of one. Ryan has somewhat been able to scheme over his team's pass-rushing deficiencies, and Gang Green does have a pair of emerging defensive linemen in Muhammad Wilkerson and Quinton Coples, but Rex's Jets defense has lacked a true edge rusher since, well, forever.
Umenyiora has worked as a 4-3 end with the Giants, and the Jets are considered to run a 3-4. However, Ryan's defense is so multiple and never looks the same up front, so he's more than capable of working a player of the Umenyiora variety into the scheme.
All that aside, the Jets will need to do most of their building and repairs through the draft. They have little-to-no room to spend via the free agent market. But in early January/late February, everything is worth looking at.
Umenyiora has worked as a 4-3 end with the Giants, and the Jets are considered to run a 3-4. However, Ryan's defense is so multiple and never looks the same up front, so he's more than capable of working a player of the Umenyiora variety into the scheme.
All that aside, the Jets will need to do most of their building and repairs through the draft. They have little-to-no room to spend via the free agent market. But in early January/late February, everything is worth looking at.
