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New York Giants Rumors: Jason Pierre-Paul Returning Next Week?

By Kenneth Teape

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New York Giants Rumors: The Jason Pierre-Paul saga has dominated the headlines for the Giants throughout the summer. The biggest question outside of what really is wrong with his hand is when he will be returning to the team. The Giants may now have their answer to when they will get him into their headquarters.

For the New York Giants, it has been an extremely tough offseason from an injury standpoint. Their already shaky secondary depth has been crushed by injuries, as it seems every player outside of Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie has been injured at some point. Safety has been hit hardest, with three players already ruled out for the season and a fourth looking like he will in Nat Berhe.

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But, arguably the biggest loss was Jason Pierre-Paul. Pierre-Paul had an accident during Fourth of July weekend, severely injuring his hand. He has still not let Giants’ doctors see the right hand, which is without at least an index finger at this point and fractured thumb. They will not know the full extent of the injury until he returns to the team. That has been one of the biggest storylines of the summer for the Giants, when exactly Pierre-Paul would be showing up; they now seem to have an idea of when it will happen.

According to sources at ESPN, Pierre-Paul will be returning to the team next week, leading up to the first regular season game against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday Night Football.

When he shows up, Pierre-Paul is planning on meeting with the medical personnel next week at their headquarters in East Rutherford, New Jersey. After that, the two parties will come up with a timeline about when he can get back on the field.

Smart money would be on it being relatively soon, as the plan all along was to come back when he was nearly ready to play and could pass a physical. Pierre-Paul wasn’t going to show up with the injury when it happened, because the Giants would have then been able to recoup some of the money off his contract.

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Pierre-Paul was slapped with the franchise tag in March, which disappointed him. That was the main reason Pierre-Paul was staying away at the beginning of the summer, as he was waiting to sign the franchise tender until he had to. Then, the hand injury occurred and it has kept him away even longer as he won’t return until he is ready.

It is fair to question if Pierre-Paul has been receiving some bad advice from people, as the Giants tried unsuccessfully to get in touch with their pass rusher, but they were turned away at every attempt. The Giants could place Pierre-Paul on the NFI List, which would enable them to keep any money he would have made during games missed. But, if he is placed on that list, he will miss at least the first six games of the season.

He is adamant that he will be able to return before then, so it will be interesting to see what kind of deal the Giants and Pierre-Paul work out regarding how he will be paid for any games he misses. While he obviously made a boneheaded decision, the Giants desperately need their top pass rusher and defensive lineman back on the field sooner rather than later. People close to Pierre-Paul are confident he can still perform even without his 10th finger, he will just need to wear a cover or cast of some sort.

Whatever needs to be done, it is safe to assume the Giants will try and get it done as they are a better defense with Pierre-Paul on the field than off it.

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