3:28pm: The Giants lifted Pierre-Paul’s roster exemption, and the defensive end will play Sunday, Rapoport tweets.
Jon Beason will head to injured reserve as the corresponding transaction, according to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle (on Twitter).
Beason’s played in five games for the Giants this season, starting four at middle linebacker, but the oft-injured linebacker will once again head to IR. Beason, 30, played in just four games for Big Blue in 2014. He took a paycut to stay with the Giants this season.
The former Miami Hurricanes stalwart’s played in five or fewer games in four of the past five seasons after playing in all 16 in his first four seasons with the Panthers.
The latest spate of injuries, with knee and ankle maladies finishing his season this time, could mark the end of Beason’s career, Jordan Raanan of NJ.com reports.
1:52pm: Jason Pierre-Paul is traveling with the Giants for their Week 9 clash with the Buccaneers in Tampa Bay, ESPN.com’s Josina Anderson reports (on Twitter).
From the impression of teammates, it looks like Big Blue plans on deploying him immediately, per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link) and Bart Hubbuch of the New York Post.
The Giants have until 3 p.m. Central Time to activate their former All-Pro pass-rusher to their 53-man roster and officially conclude his turbulent offseason.
New York is the only team in the league still in single digits in sacks with nine. They trail the second-worst Falcons’ pass rush by three and sit 20 behind the first-place Broncos.
The sixth-year edge presence looks to be set for passing-down work against the Bucs, per Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com (via Twitter), who would be very surprised if the Giants don’t activate him today.
He’ll indeed be on a snap count, according to Hubbuch, but the ex-first-rounder who registered 12.5 sacks last season and has lofty incentives for reaching double digits this year will obviously help the Giants’ anemic rush, even in a limited role.
“He’s done everything we’ve asked him to do, and we’re very positive about it,” Tom Coughlin told media. “He obviously has played many, many years in all circumstances, so I don’t think necessarily that’s true [that Pierre-Paul would be in a specialized role].”