The Giants have been working to re-sign franchise-tagged defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul, but the two sides are “nowhere near a deal,’’ agent Doug Hendrickson told Paul Schwartz of the New York Post on Monday. As a result, the Giants had to tag Pierre-Paul to keep him from hitting the open market March 9, and Schwartz expects the decision to “infuriate” the seven-year veteran.
While Pierre-Paul will rake in $16.955MM via the tag in 2017 if he and the Giants don’t agree to a long-term deal by the July deadline, he likely expected to end up with a similar annual value on a multiyear contract in free agency. Pierre-Paul would’ve been one of the most accomplished defenders available, having tallied 50 sacks and 11 forced fumbles to this stage, and proven pass rushers command premium prices on the open market. Exhibit A: The five-year, $85.5MM deal featuring $52MM in guarantees that the Giants handed Olivier Vernon a year ago.
Even though Pierre-Paul, 28, is both two years older and far less durable than Vernon, he had been targeting a similar payday as of late January. When asked Monday if that’s still the case, Hendrickson said, “I don’t want to get into that.” He also lamented the fact that Pierre-Paul won’t get to measure his worth in free agency.
“He’s earned the right to see what’s out there,” opined Hendrickson.
I don’t see the Giants ponying up on a long-term deal. No reason for them to with Vernon on the other side and contracts for Harrison and Jenkins on their books (signing JPP to a long term deal will lock up a lot of cap in just those 4 defensive players). I do feel bad for JPP as he’s shown he does deserve to test his worth on the market after his incident. He’s likely to play this year under the tag and if he has another good year, I can see the Giants actually tagging him again.
This silly move could backfire. Reese should have let him walk…… Now we have only 12 million in cap money. We probably won’t be signing Hankins because of this move…..???