Michael Strahan implores the Giants today to be fair to his old friend Osi Umenyiora.
“I’m not saying bow down to every demand and need,” Strahan told The Post last night. “Just be fair.
“Do something! Just don’t say ‘Take it or leave it.’ “
It is Strahan’s contention Umenyiora, who is due to make $3.125 million this season and $3.975 million in the last year of his seven-year, $41.35 million deal, is “severely, severely underpaid” compared with defensive ends around the NFL and is executing the only strategy he can to reach a resolution to his contract dispute with Big Blue.
“There’s no way [general manager] Jerry Reese can tell me he doesn’t think Osi is underpaid,” Strahan said.
So your message is: Pay him?
“My message is, ‘You got to do something,’” Strahan said. “There’s no way they can tell me they feel like he’s making what he should be making.
“I just think what he’s making is not fair.
“He’s been underpaid for a long time. Be fair.
“I made more in the sixth year of a seven-year contract — a throwaway year — even after paying $200,000 worth of fines than Osi will make this year and next year. That’s ridiculous.”
Strahan made $4 million that season. It was his 15th and final NFL season. Which turned out to that Super Bowl XLII season.
“And that was four seasons ago,” Strahan said. “This guy’s been to two Pro Bowls since then.”
Strahan mentioned the six-year, $72 million contract the Panthers just gave defensive end Charles Johnson.
“I’ll be honest with you — I don’t even know who Charles Johnson is,” Strahan said. “How can you look Osi in the face and tell him he’s not worth it?”
Strahan said he completely understands the source of Umenyiora’s anger.
“When you see a guy who can’t even pick your jockstrap off the chair and take it to the laundry room,” is how he put it.
Strahan, who was represented by the same agent [Tony Agnone] who represents Umenyiora, can give you 92 reasons, and certainly no fewer than 72, why Umenyiora had to make a stand here and now.
“I went to camp one year and said, ‘I’m not doing anything until I get a new deal,’ ” Strahan said. “The public didn’t know we were having our little contract issue. When we got the deal done, I stepped out on the field.
“I don’t begrudge the fact of him doing what he’s doing,” he said. “If he doesn’t do it, he’ll never make the type of money he should be making.”
Strahan is well aware that most fans, of course, can never understand how anyone making $3 million can cry poverty.
“In relation to what guys are making in football, he’s severely, severely underpaid,” Strahan said.
Strahan said he thinks the Giants asking for a first-round pick for Umenyiora is unrealistic.
“I don’t think the Giants want to trade him,” Strahan said. “If you’re trading him, don’t put a value on him you know you’re not going to get.”
Strahan said he feels losing Umenyiora would be a damaging blow to Big Blue.
“If they lose Osi, it’s going to be a long year for [Justin] Tuck,” Strahan said.
It would meaning constant double teams.
“I’ve been there before. That’s no fun,” Strahan said. “I’m excited about the young guys [Jason Pierre-Paul], but they’re still developing.”
In Umenyiora, the Giants have a proven commodity.
“A bird in the hand is better than one over there in the bushes you’re not sure what it is,” Strahan said.
Strahan, as Umenyiora had done a day earlier, pointed to the cold-blooded executions of long-time Giants Shaun O’Hara and Rich Seubert.
“When they cut Phil Simms [June 1994], I realized what kind of business it was,” Strahan said.
“My message, to all these young players is, when the game is over, I don’t care how good of a player you were, when you go back to that team, yes you can walk into that building, yes you can go to the games and stand on the sidelines — but the bottom line is they don’t pay you anymore. You don’t eat off that.
“You got to get as much as you can while you can.
“I just hope they get this nonsense over with and stop the bad blood. It almost pits player against fan. There’s no need for that.
“This is the ugly side of football.”
steve.serby@nypost.com