Giants owner John Mara indicated that they could consider the idea of placing their franchise tag on free agent DE Jason Pierre-Paul in the coming months, depending on how contract negotiations play out.
“That is certainly one of our options, but we really haven’t fully discussed that yet,” Mara said, via Dan Graziano of ESPN. “I have no idea what his agent is going to do. Actually, I do have a pretty good idea of what his agent is going to be asking for. And whether we want to do that or franchise him is something we will have to fully discuss. . . .
“We would certainly like him back, but it would have to be at the right price, something that makes sense for us. He had a great finish to the season and showed us the type of player that he can be. I would be very surprised if he was not a Giant next year.”
It would be tough for the Giants to replace their best pass rusher, which is a distinct possibility if they allow him to reach the open market next March.
Applying the franchise tag take to Pierre-Paul would run them close to $15 million next year, so while it would ensure that he remains with the team for another year, it obviously come at a significant cost.
Pierre-Paul, 25, is in the final year of his five-year, $20.05 million rookie contract that included $11,629,807 million guaranteed.
This season, Pierre-Paul has 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.
We have him rated as the No. 11 player in our Top 25 – 2015 Free Agents list.
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