6:05pm: It’s a virtual guarantee that the Giants will put JPP on the non-football injury list to open training camp, Jason Cole of Bleacher Report tweets. The Giants are currently checking in on the details of the process.
5:10pm: There’s concern that Pierre-Paul could miss training camp and the start of regular season, a team source tells Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (on Twitter). For now, the Giants are still awaiting more medical information.
4:48pm: Reports indicating that the Giants have rescinded their offer to Jason Pierre-Paul are “100% false,” a source very much in the know tells Mark Cannizzaro of the New York Post (on Twitter). Earlier today, it was reported that the Giants withdrew their long-term contract offer to the star defensive end, a proposal that was said to be worth $60MM.
According to that same report from earlier, JPP was not planning on accepting the $60MM offer before next Wednesday’s deadline. Still, if he has a change of heart, it sounds like the proposal will still be there.
Earlier today, Luke Adams of PFR examined a few possibilities for how the situation between Pierre-Paul and the Giants could play out, noting that any scenario involving JPP becoming an unrestricted free agent seems unlikely. If the veteran pass rusher signs his one-year franchise tender, the club could ultimately elect to place him on the non-football injury list until he’s recovered. In that event, New York wouldn’t necessarily have to pay JPP his full salary.
Pierre-Paul had a strong 2014 campaign with 12.5 sacks and three forced fumbles and was the league’s seventh-best 4-3 defensive end according to Pro Football Focus’ grades (subscription required). However, he wasn’t all that consistent throughout the year as nine of those sacks came in the season’s last five games.
In a May poll, 58% of PFR readers said that Pierre-Paul would not ink a long-term pact prior to July 15th. Earlier today, a team spokesman told Ian Rapoport of NFL Network that the club’s first concern is for JPP’s well-being.
The NFI list seems tailor-made for a situation like this, so it’s no surprise that the Giants are expected to make use of it. One good thing about that designation is that while the player isn’t entitled to his salary, the team ultimately makes that call. So if they want to, the two sides could work out an arrangement where JPP gets paid some amount while he’s on the NFI list, but not his full $871K weekly checks.