Pro Football Talk is reporting that the Giants are using their franchise tag on DE Jason Pierre-Paul.
According to Mike Garafolo, the Giants aren’t interested in paying Pierre-Paul the $17 million salary he’ll make under this tag as part of a long-term deal. However, there were reportedly teams “lurking” to sign him in free agency, so they elected to franchise him.
Recent reports mentioned that the Giants were hoping to make a serious attempt at signing him to a long-term extension in the coming weeks, which is, of course, still a possibility even after using the tag on him.
Ralph Vacchiano of SNY previously reported that Pierre-Paul had his sights set on “at least” the five-year, $85 million contract signed by fellow Giants’ DE Olivier Vernon last year, so it will obviously cost them quite a bit to get him under contract long-term.
Pierre-Paul, 28, is a former first-round pick of the Giants back in 2010. He received the team’s franchise tag last year but later had it rescinded after he suffered a serious injury to his hand.
The two parties later renegotiated a one-year deal worth up to $8.71 million based on incentives and Giants elected to bring him back this past offseason on a one-year, $10 million contract that included $4.25 million guaranteed.
Pierre-Paul wound up playing out the 2016 season under the franchise tag.
In 2016, Pierre-Paul has appeared in 12 games and recorded 54 tackles, seven sacks, three forced fumbles, a recovery returned for a touchdown and eight pass defenses.
We had him featured in our Top 100 – 2017 Free Agents list.
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