The latest on Big Blue before the Giants take on the Eagles tonight..
- Jason Pierre-Paul will report back to the Giants on Tuesday and allow his hand to be re-examined by team doctors, sources tell Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News. However, there are some in the organization who doubt JPP’s hand has healed enough for him to be cleared to return to the field, another team source tells the Daily News. When the Giants looked at JPP’s hand on September 7th, the damage was much worse than expected, so some team officials aren’t all that optimistic about the upcoming evaluation.
- Giants left tackle Will Beatty, who has yet to play this season due to a torn pectoral muscle, could practice early this week, according to NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport (on Twitter). Beatty’s injury was a huge blow for the Giants, who used their first-round pick in this year’s draft on a tackle in an effort to solidify their offensive line. Beatty was one of the league’s more effective left tackles in 2014, grading as a positive contributor as both a run- and pass-blocker, according to Pro Football Focus. PFF ranked him 14th overall out of 84 qualified players at the position.
- Giants tight end Daniel Fells has now been given an optimistic prognosis, as Rapoport writes. After nearly three weeks in the hospital battling an aggressive MRSA infection, sources say his scans and cultures have come back “looking good” and there is a real chance he’s released from the hospital this week. Furthermore, doctors now believe that they’ll be able to save Fells’ foot. Still, he’s unlikely to ever return to football given the damage his foot has sustained.
Re-insterting Beatty into their starting five would be big for the Giants, as he and Geoff Schwartz still haven’t played together much. Even if Beatty is merely adequate upon returning, it still removes Marshall Newhouse from the lineup. Can’t underestimate that addition by subtraction.