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New York Giants: Standing by Jason Pierre-Paul relatively easy

By Kevin Parvizi

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It’s unclear how New York Giants star defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul will do without his right index finger, but the franchised edge rusher is still in the team’s 2015 plans. NJ.com’s Jordan Raanan reported that the Giants “fully intend” to have him on the roster this upcoming season, and their desire to keep him around is completely understandable from a football sense. I mean, he was one of the league’s most explosive pass rushers and is pretty darn good against the run, which more than makes up for the fact that he isn’t as consistent as most other top-notch 4-3 defensive ends.

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And even though it doesn’t seem like it makes sense from a financial perspective at first glance, the Giants don’t incur much risk here. We all know that the franchise tag carries no long-term risk, but the Giants shouldn’t even be overly concerned with the $14.8 million that they are on the hook for this upcoming season.

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Although they can rescind JPP’s franchise tag without any financial consequences, I highly doubt they would be willing to release a star player without at least seeing if he can still be effective after his surgery. Plus, as salary cap expert Jason Fitzgerald wrote in a Sporting News piece, JPP’s franchise tag for 2015 isn’t guaranteed because the fireworks incident isn’t a football injury.

Part of the reason why JPP has been so reluctant to meet with members of the Giants organization is because the less the team knows about his injury, the less of a chance he has of hitting the Reserve/Non-Football Injury List. If the Giants feel that Pierre-Paul’s injury is severe enough (and don’t feel like he can adapt quickly enough without his index finger to play at an effective level this season), then they could minimize their risk by placing him on the NFI. In this case, his contract would be moved over to the 2016 season, and the Giants wouldn’t have to pay him anything this year.

In any case, Pierre-Paul’s $14.8 million isn’t guaranteed, and it, as Fitzgerald writes in the article above, gives the Giants more flexibility and all of the leverage. Pierre-Paul is stuck in a corner, and all he can do is play nice and hope that he can prove to the team that he can still be good without the use of his index finger. From that point on, it’s all about convincing the league that he deserves a contract with real security in 2016 and beyond.

Fitzgerald brings up the point that the Giants can always offer a new one-year deal to JPP to keep the franchise tag option open in 2016, and that’s always a possibility. It isn’t probable, though, because keeping Pierre-Paul on a non-guaranteed franchise tag makes more sense for them, especially since they can wield the power of the NFI list, which would keep JPP on the roster in 2016.

At 26, Jason Pierre-Paul is still in a position where he could feasibly earn two real paydays in his career, and there’s a good chance he’ll be back to his old self without the use of his finger and after he recovers from his right thumb fractures (which will take six weeks to recover, as reported by ESPN’s Ed Werder).

Dec 28, 2014; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul (90) reacts against the Philadelphia Eagles during the second quarter at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

It’s hard to say if JPP will be able to replicate his 12.5 sacks and six passes defended in his contract year last season, but I like to give players with great length, explosiveness, and athletic ability off of the edge the benefit of the doubt. He has great teammates on defense around him, so those guys can help make JPP’s job easier this upcoming season (it’s already hard enough, especially with the ball in the Giants court).

All of this makes it clear that it’s in the New York Giants best interests to keep him on the roster for 2015, as they have a team capable of winning the division and doing some real damage in the playoffs. JPP’s incident is a reminder that the Giants have had the worst luck of any team in the NFL with injuries, but if Pierre-Paul can be the playmaking force at DE that he was last season, then it’s totally worth paying him. And if they have cold feet before then, they can put him on the NFI. If they don’t like what they see in him later on, they can always cut him, though it’s hard to see it coming to this.

In a sense, the only way the Giants would lose is if they didn’t stick by JPP, and he went out and had at least modest success somewhere else on a prove-it contract. After all, the Giants themselves can offer a more modest prove-it deal with more guarantees than $0, and that’s not out of the question at this early point in the saga.

Prior to this incident, he was a hyper-athletic, elite DE who could make an impact in all facets of the game, and he’s the kind of valuable, unique defensive end in this pass-dominated league that you’d like to keep around. Heck, he’d be valuable even in a run-dominated league, because he’s consistently been one of the better run defenders at the 4-3 DE position over the past three seasons.

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