4;42pm: Don’t expect Pierre-Paul to sign his franchise tag until he’s ready to play, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter) cautions. The Giants can’t place him on the Non-Football Injury list until he inks a deal. Rapoport adds (link) that the two sides haven’t ruled out JPP playing in Week 1. Of course, no one will know his timetable until more is known about his hand.
Meanwhile, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (on Twitter) notes that Giants officials have been in South Florida since Monday night but still have not been able to visit JPP. As for right now, they’re waiting patiently, hoping he’s alright.
3:48pm: The Coral Springs PD is no longer investigating Pierre-Paul, having determined the incident didn’t happen within their jurisdiction, reports J.P. Pelzman of The Record (all Twitter links). That doesn’t mean another police department won’t look into the incident, however. Mike Garafolo of FOX Sports tweets that once police determine where the incident occurred, they might proceed with an investigation.
2:56pm: According to Raanan, the Coral Springs Police Department in Florida has launched an investigation into the accident that injured Pierre-Paul’s hand. Depending on the the information they gather, JPP could face charges that include criminal possession of fireworks, writes Raanan, citing Coral Springs public information officer Capt. Brad McKeon.
10:30am: A handful of reports on Jason Pierre-Paul‘s condition and his contract situation surfaced on Monday, with some of those reports providing conflicting information. The severity of JPP’s hand injury, sustained over the weekend in a fireworks accident, remains unclear, and the team may or may not have withdrawn a $60MM contract offer in the wake of the incident.
Based on Monday’s reports, it seems likely that Pierre-Paul will ultimately play on a one-year deal in 2015, with a stint of the non-football injury list a possibility. It also appears unlikely that his hand will be 100% healthy anytime soon.
With that in mind, here are Tuesday’s latest updates on the star defensive end:
- The Giants sent their vice president of medical services, Ronnie Barnes, to Miami to check in on Pierre-Paul at Jackson Memorial Hospital, but he hasn’t been able to get much information about the 26-year-old’s condition, writes Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News. According to Vacchiano, the Giants have been stuck getting most of their updates from JPP’s agent, which is the main reason why the team has yet to issue a statement or make any definitive decisions. In response to a report indicating the defensive end could miss some of the regular season, one team source told Vacchiano, “Until we know what we’re dealing with, nobody knows if he’ll miss anything.”
- One team source told Vacchiano that yesterday’s report on the Giants pulling a $60MM to JPP off the table was “not accurate,” suggesting that there may not have been a concrete offer to rescind. A deal in the $60MM range may have been discussed, but some in the NFL believe Pierre-Paul was seeking more than that.
- Mark Cannizzaro of the New York Post, who first refuted the report of the rescinded contract offer, hears that there’s still a multiyear offer on the table, but that Pierre-Paul is unlikely to accept it. If that’s true, I can’t imagine that offer represents a fair market value for an injured JPP, let alone a healthy one.
- Giants officials are in Miami today to visit Pierre-Paul and hope to have a better idea of how he’s faring by the end of the day, sources tell Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Jordan Raanan of NJ.com adds (via Twitter) that the Giants’ contingent include key figures in the organization, not including owner John Mara.
- If Pierre-Paul signs his franchise tender and is placed on the non-football injury list for the start of the regular season, he’d have to sit out at least six weeks. As such, JPP’s best move may be to not sign his tender until he’s healthy, since that would allow him to be activated immediately, says Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. Of course, that decision will depend heavily on the 26-year-old’s recovery timetable.
- In a piece for NJ.com, Raanan explains how the NFI list works, and how its features would apply to JPP.