Jason Pierre-Paul’s Hand Worse Than Giants Believed, Concern He Could Miss Entire Season

Update:

Jay Glazer of FOX Sports reports that Giants DE Jason Pierre-Paul has damage to three of his fingers, and recently underwent skin graft procedures.

• The Giants are expected to re-evaluate Pierre-Paul in six weeks.

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A source with knowledge of the situation tells Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk that he believes Giants DE Jason Pierre-Paul will be able to return in 5-6 weeks.

Florio adds that in order for JPP to return, the Giants will need to agree, through the assessment of their doctors.

Mike Garafolo of FOX Sports reports that there’s some talk Pierre-Paul could play about half the season, which is considered to be the “best-case scenario.”

Garafolo admits that no one really knows what to expect in regards to JPP’s situation, given that there aren’t a lot of situations where players lose portions of their hand.

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Dan Graziano of ESPN reports that the Giants believe the damage to DE Jason Pierre-Paul‘s hand is worse than they were led to believe.

In fact, Granziano mentions that there are some within the Giants who are concerned that Pierre-Paul may not be able to return at all this season, even though recent reports have said that he may only miss a month.

A source tells Graziano that, in addition to the missing right index finger, fractured thumb and skin grafts, JPP is also missing a portion of another finger on his right hand.

It’s worth mentioning that Graziano has spoken to others in the Giants’ organization who haven’t given up on the idea of Pierre-Paul returning this season, as a few came away encouraged by his attitude, his demeanor and his physical condition apart from the hand.

Even with these concerns, Graziano adds that New York still has no plans to rescind JPP’s franchise tender, given that it’s not costing them anything at the moment.

New York wound up placing JPP on the reserve/franchise player list a few weeks ago. 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.

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.