Ralph Vacchiano of SNY, citing a source familiar with his situation, reports that impending free agent DE Jason Pierre-Paul has his sights set on “at least” the five-year, $85 million contract signed by fellow Giants’ DE Olivier Vernon last year.
According to Vacchiano, it’s possible that Pierre-Paul could target even more money than Vernon got when you consider the amount of available cap space for teams to work with this offseason.
The Giants will have some cap space to work with, and Vacchiano believes they should try to keep both Pierre-Paul and DT Johnathan Hankins in the coming months. New York could have around $35 million or so of cap room after making some roster cuts and restructuring some contracts.
A few weeks ago, Pierre-Paul made it clear that he has no intention of signing another one-year contract this offeason.
“I’ve done proved it,” Pierre-Paul said, per Mike Garafolo. “There’s not a guy like me doing it with seven and a half fingers.”
Pierre-Paul added that he would like to return to the Giants next year, but he also stressed that he plans to make the best decision for his family while adding that he won’t sign the team’s franchise tender if he receives their designation, per James Kratch.
Pierre-Paul is coming off of an impressive season in which he proved that the loss of fingers on his hand didn’t prevent him from being an impact player.
Next year’s free agent class will have some notable pass rushers, but you can expect some of them to be franchised, which could leave Pierre-Paul in position to secure a decent market-value contract.
It would cost the Giants 20 percent more to use their franchise on him again in 2017.
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 He received the team’s franchise tag last year but later had it rescinded after he suffered a serious injury to his hand.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.
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 have him featured in our Top 30 – 2017 Free Agents list.
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