The long national nightmare of Jason Pierre-Paul, his missing fingers and the New York Giants is over as the two sides have sewn things up.
Tuesday evening, Ian Rapoport of NFL media tweeted that JPP and the Giants have agreed to terms of a one-year deal after the defensive end passed his physical. Additionally, the Giants will reportedly ask for a two-week roster exemption:
#Giants & DE Jason Pierre-Paul have worked all day on a 1-yr deal after he passed his physicals. They’ve agreed to terms and are finalizing
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 27, 2015
The #Giants will ask for a 2-week roster exemption for Jason Pierre-Paul, who could be on the field in some form or fashion tomorrow.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 27, 2015
However, Mike Garafolo of Fox Sports believes JPP will be ready around mid-November for the Patriots game.
Two weeks is standard roster exemption for a player. That'll be the case for JPP/NYG. Wouldn't be ready anyway. Again, Wk 10 vs NE possible.
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) October 27, 2015
Whenever JPP does see the field again, it’ll officially put an end to what has been an explosive a dramatic three and a half months for each side. Looking broader, however, the timeline involving JPP’s future with New York (and the NFL) spans back further. Here’s all that has happened over the past seven months:
March 2: The Giants designate Pierre-Paul as their franchise player after he tallied 12.5 sacks and 21 quarterback hits in 2014. It was considered a giant moment for JPP, so to speak, because of the up-and-down nature of his career during his rookie contract.
July 4: Pierre-Paul suffers a serious, but non-career-threatening injury to his right hand during a fireworks accident while celebrating on the Fourth of July. Rumors, and later reports, begin surfacing of Pierre-Paul’s injury a day later.
July 6: The Giants pull their $60 million long-term contract offer to Pierre-Paul, which he was unlikely to sign before the July 15th deadline anyway. Pierre-Paul was set to play on a $14.8 million franchise tag, but he did not sign his tender before the injury. If he did, he could have been placed on the Non-Football Injury list and not been paid for games missed. However, the full extent of JPP’s injury isn’t publicly known.
July 8: ESPN’s NFL insider Adam Schefter, citing medical charts, reports JPP had his right index finger amputated following the accident.
ESPN obtained medical charts that show Giants DE Jason Pierre-Paul had right index finger amputated today. pic.twitter.com/VI5cbS1uCw
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) July 8, 2015
August 1: A photo from the New York Daily News emerges of JPP with his right hand completely bandaged.
.@Giants players react to seeing Jason Pierre-Paul photos for first time http://t.co/RP098QO0kV pic.twitter.com/JcneTWpRsn
— NY Daily News Sports (@NYDNSports) August 1, 2015
August 3: The Washington Post reports that, after roughly a month of silence, JPP and the Giants are communicating:
Pierre-Paul lost his right index finger and is believed to have also broken his thumb in addition to requiring skin grafts, but the Giants have had little specific information about just what happened. Giants owner John Mara went public with his frustration about Pierre-Paul’s absence and his refusal to see a team trainer who visited him during his hospitalization.
September 15: Multiple reports state Pierre-Paul’s middle finger and thumb are damaged, something the Giants did not initially know.
September 17: The New York Daily News once again finds a photo of Pierre-Pauls’ hand, and it’s as bad as everyone thinks.
EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS: First look at Jason Pierre-Paul’s hand without a bandage. http://t.co/G8FSGgKEck pic.twitter.com/Vaf0dj8aGk
— NY Daily News Sports (@NYDNSports) September 17, 2015
October 27: The Giants and JPP agree to a one-year, incentive-laden deal. Pierre-Paul posts a picture of him signing his new contract, mangled hand and all, on his Instagram account.
https://instagram.com/p/9XBfLFD2BP/?taken-by=iamjasonpierrepaul
