Giants Have No Plans To Move On From Jason Pierre-Paul, Despite Finger Amputation

Update:

Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News spoke to a Giants’ team source who said that they’re still not sure why DE Jason Pierre-Paul has refused their help following his recent fireworks accident.

“We really don’t understand why they won’t let us help him,” said the team source. “What are they trying to do?”

While no one informed the team that Pierre-Paul had elected to have his right index finger amputated, they had heard he underwent a surgical procedure. A team source tells Vacchiano that their feeling was that maybe JPP needed a pin to help stabilize his hand, but no idea an amputation was being done.

Vacchiano writes that it”s really odd decision on Pierre-Paul’s part to refuse help from the Giants, considering that they can get him help from some of the best doctors in the world. On top of that, the team reportedly has no plans to rescind his franchise tag.

According to Vacchiano, there are some around the league have speculated that Pierre-Paul’s agents likely have decided to keep the Giants in the dark regarding his situation to prevent the team from withdrawing the franchise tag.

However, this would instantly make JPP a free agent, which seems very unlikely given the recent reports that they plan to keep him, even after the finger amputation.

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Jordan Raanan of NJ.com, citing a person with knowledge of the situation, reports that the Giants fully intend to have DE Jason Pierre-Paul on their roster at the start of the regular season.

According to Raanan, the Giants still have yet to speak with Pierre-Paul since the fireworks accident occurred last weekend.

A source with knowledge of Pierre-Paul’s thinking tells Raanan that JPP decided to not meet with Giants’ trainer Ronnie Barnes and player liaison Jessie Armstead because he felt the matter was a personal decision. On top of that, Pierre-Paul is technically a free agent, so it’s not as though the Giants are actually his employer at this point in time.

In the end, Pierre-Paul reportedly decided to amputate his right index finger because of potential health complications as they attempted to save the digit.

Raanan mentions that had Pierre-Paul been set on saving his finger, it was likely he would have missed the entire 2015 season, and even then there was no guarantee that he would be able to save his finger.

An NFL executive tells Raanan that he believes the Giants should move on without Pierre-Paul, but also understands how this would impact the team long-term.

“Send a message. Save the money,” said the executive. “But it’s a typical case of long-term interest of team versus short-term interest of [general manager Jerry Reese and coach Tom Coughlin], who need to win games now.”

Earlier in the day, Jason Cole of the Bleacher Report reported that two parties are not expected to come to any sort of easy resolution regarding his contract situation.

Cole mentions that even after having his index finger amputated, the defensive end is still unlikely to acquiesce to the Giants’ demands.

There is reportedly “tension” between the two parties, which could lead to JPP staying away from training the team’s training camp until he’s completely healthy.

On top of that, Cole suggests that the Giants may have to negotiate with Pierre-Paul to even get him to attend training camp workouts, which could include an agreement to not place him on the non-football injury list.

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.

New York could still rescind the franchise tender, but it sounds like they would prefer to keep him 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.

We’ll have more regarding Pierre-Paul and his injury as the news is available.