While the Jason Pierre-Paul story was heating up, it seemed as though he had dodged a major bullet after the Fourth of July incident that left him with what was called a “severe” hand injury. Pierre-Paul was expected to make a full recovery, at least, that’s what the original reports were saying. Now, do you want the good news, or the bad news first?
The good news? Pierre-Paul is going to make a return to football this season and even expects to be back on the field soon. The bad news? It was recently reported by Yahoo! Sports that Pierre-Paul had to have his right index finger amputated from the firework-related injury.
That’s a brutal thing to hear for one of the best pass rushers in the NFL, but he’s still expected back with the New York Giants sooner than later. As for how soon we’re talking, well, that all depends, but Pierre-Paul fully expects to be back on the field it seems. In all honesty, this entire situation could have ended far worse than it did and we definitely wish the man dubbed “JPP” a speedy recovery.
Pierre-Paul wasn’t the only player who suffered a firework-related injury on the Fourth of July weekend, as Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback C.J. Wilson also lost both his middle and index fingers.
The Giants are going to need Pierre-Paul heading into 2015 for obvious reasons, but the team starts off against strong offenses in the Dallas Cowboys and Atlanta Falcons, so if he’s forced to miss any time at all, it’s a loss that’ll be felt immediately in New York.
What makes this story even more interesting is the fact that Pierre-Paul saw a $60 million contract extension get pulled back by the team after the accident. On top of that, he still hasn’t signed his franchise tag for 2015, which is worth $14.8 million. If the Giants choose to pull that back, that will leave Pierre-Paul as a free agent, but that seems pretty unlikely at this point in time.
Follow Jeff on Twitter @JSM8ith.
