New York Giants: Jason Pierre-Paul a successful letdown

Defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul helped the New York Giants win a Super Bowl, but his career will always be somewhat of a letdown.

The New York Giants risked the 15th pick of the 2010 NFL Draft on defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul, a raw talent who was an athletic freak selected to pursue and hit quarterbacks each time he took the field. JPP became a fan-favorite for fulfilling that mission early and often, and he helped the Giants win a Super Bowl. He was also an unfortunate letdown, in part because of injuries and in part because of an accident that cost him the better part of his prime.

Following Thursday’s trade, first reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Pierre-Paul is now a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers heading into the 2018 season.

Pierre-Paul impressed in high school, but his grades weren’t good enough for him to enter a top-tier school. He ventured to the College of the Canyons before ultimately landing at the University of South Florida, where he earned a first-round value with his play ahead of the 2010 draft. His time in college didn’t improve his scholastic abilities, but the Giants obviously didn’t care. They weren’t looking for a defensive general at the time. They wanted somebody to chase the ball and do little else.

That’s precisely what the Giants got in 2011. Pierre-Paul accumulated a team-high 16.5 sacks after becoming a revelation as a starter, he blocked a field goal to help preserve a vital 37-34 win over the Dallas Cowboys on Dec. 11, he performed like a true future Defensive Player of the Year candidate and he helped the club win a Super Bowl. Just as exciting, Pierre-Paul looked like the next Osi Umenyiora and/or the next Justin Tuck. The sky was the limit.

In reality, 2011 proved to be Pierre-Paul’s ceiling. He underwent back surgery in June 2013, the first sign of cracks in his armor. He finished the subsequent campaign with only a pair of sacks, but he responded admirably by tallying a total of 12 quarterback takedowns in 2014. The Giants placed the franchise tag on him in March 2015, a move that was nothing short of genius thanks to the benefit of 20/20 hindsight.

There’s no more to say or write about the fireworks accident from July 4, 2015 that permanently damaged Pierre-Paul’s right hand. Everybody knows what happened. Everybody knows Pierre-Paul never should have put himself into such a dangerous situation at any point during his playing days. The man himself urged people to practice safety using fireworks after the fact:

Optimists remained hopeful Pierre-Paul would return to some high percentage of his prior form when he picked up seven sacks in 12 regular season games in 2016. However, those numbers were overshadowed when he required surgery to repair a sports hernia, an operation that ended his campaign in December and left him a spectator when the Giants traveled to Lambeau Field for a January postseason match-up against the Green Bay Packers. New York unquestionably missed his presence in that defeat.

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Pierre-Paul appeared in 16 games last year, and he ended the season with eight sacks. He also suffered a fractured finger on his right hand in Dcember, as explained by Michael Eisen of the official team website. Less than 12 months after the inked dried on the paper, the four-year contract potentially worth up to $62 million that the Giants awarded to Pierre-Paul in the spring of 2017 seemed more like an anchor than money well-earned by a 29-year old on the cusp of exiting his prime.

Nobody, not even the biggest Pierre-Paul apologist out there, can blame those within the Big Blue front office for believing the pass-rusher’s best days are behind him. History suggests it’s more likely Pierre-Paul will end any given year on an injured reserve list than he will get to ten sacks during a season one last time before he hangs his cleats up for good. Trading Pierre-Paul now frees a boatload of salary cap space for 2019 and beyond. It’s good business and a transaction the Giants couldn’t refuse.

Next: NFL Mock Draft: Unexpected first-round picks post-FA

It’s easy, eight years after the fact, to review the 2010 draft and wonder what could have been had the Giants selected a different All-Pro from that class. The exercise also ignores what Pierre-Paul contributed to a championship roster, which makes it unfair. Just like Hakeem Nicks, JPP earned a Super Bowl ring and, at the same time, criticism from the Giants’ faithful. Both are successful failures, and both serve as reminders that evaluating draft classes is often an impossible task.