Jason Pierre-Paul To Report To Giants Next Week, Plans To Play Early This Season

Dan Graziano of ESPN is reporting that Giants DE Jason Pierre-Paul plans to return to the team next week with the expectation of playing earlier on in the season.

• The Giants plan to examine Pierre-Paul’s hand and determine whether he can play, according to Graziano.

New York wound up placing JPP on the reserve/franchise player list earlier in the week, but it sounds like he’ll be activated at some point in the near future. It’s worth mentioning that while he’s on this list, JPP won’t count against the team’s 53-man roster until he’s activated.

Last we heard regarding Pierre-Paul and the Giants, he had no intention of reporting to the team until he’s 100 percent healthy after his right index finger was removed following a fireworks accident back in July.

Pierre-Paul, 26, played out his five-year, $20.05 million rookie contract that included $11,629,807 million guaranteed. The Giants wound up using their franchise tag on Pierre-Paul back in early March, which will pay him a fully guaranteed salary of $14.813 million for the 2015 season.

In 2014, Pierre-Paul recorded 77 tackles, 12.5 sacks, three forced fumbles and a recovery over the course of 16 games. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 7 defensive end in a 4-3 system out of 59 qualifying players.