NFL

Umenyiora isn’t ‘D’ only reason for Giants optimism

After a while, it was easy to forget that Osi Umenyiora wasn’t simply a football player who has plied his wares for the Giants mostly (though not always) with distinction since 2003.

After a while, as all the talk and all the buzz and all the smoke gathered and settled around the Giants’ lightning-rod defensive end, Umenyiora became an odd cultural concoction: equal parts superhero, Nobel finalist, voice of the afflicted working man, fist-shaker at The Establishment.

And in fact, that picture may not be far off. Say what you wish about whether he outperformed or underperformed his contract, about whether a $3.5 million salary can be judged, in any context you like, as anything resembling an insult: This was a fight worth fighting, a side of the endless American sporting labor conversation well worth hearing.

But here’s something else to ponder:

Umenyiora’s arrival at Giants camp on Monday did, unquestionably, make the Giants’ defense more formidable. But this wasn’t Michael Strahan showing up for work a week before the 2007 season and instantly bringing credibility to a defense that would shock the world over the next few months. It wasn’t Darrelle Revis providing a splendid denouement for “Hard Knocks” and a resounding sigh to the Jets during training camp’s 11th hour in 2010.

In fact, from a strictly football standpoint, the Giants may have received equally good news yesterday when they decided to bring Deon Grant back into the fold, taking another step toward bringing a fully-formed defense into the regular season less than four weeks from now.

“We pretty much have our same unit [as last year] now,” safety Antrel Rolle said yesterday, after Grant’s return was made official. “Us being back together and working one more year along with each other I think is going to definitely be a plus.”

This is the important thing to remember about the Giants: As it was in 1956, as it was in 1986, as it was in 2007, so it shall always be. When the Giants win, when they win big, the offense is George Harrison to the defense’s Lennon & McCartney; it is Peter Lawford to the defense’s Frank, Dean and Sammy. The years don’t change that truth. The generations don’t alter that reality.

“Somehow,” the great Andy Robustelli once joked, “they should’ve found a way to spell ‘Giants’ with the letter ‘D,’ don’t you think?”

All of those great defenses had their leaders, their alpha dogs: Huff, Taylor, Strahan. In 2011, that point man is Justin Tuck. But the truth has also been this through the years: That leadership was so profound because the unit as a whole worked so well together. That’s why Grant’s addition, which will allow coordinator Perry Fewell to utilize the three-safety look that was so effective last year, was so important. And also why Umenyiora’s was, too. In equal parts.

Because this is a defense that will be measured as a unit, by the guys on the interior (especially Jason Pierre-Paul, who seems ready to become an unmitigated freak) and the linebackers and the defensive backs and all the moving pieces that make a top defense an elite one. The Jets talk a lot about aspiring to be the best defense in the NFL, but there is every reason to believe they might not be the best defense in Bergen County if the Giants play at their peak.

Tuck himself underscored the depth of the linemen, but could well have been speaking about the defense as a whole when he talked about how little it matters to him, or anyone else, who actually gets the call to start in Washington on Sept. 11.

“I really don’t care,” he said. “Obviously, that question will go a lot of different ways depending on who you ask, but at the end of the day it’s all about helping the football team. I don’t care either way.”

The Giants have issues elsewhere, and it’s foolish to feel otherwise. But the defense is the least of those worries. Having Osi Umenyiora in the fold is one reason why. But not the only reason.

michael.vaccaro@nypost.com