The New York Giants worked hard to rebuild their team after they let head coach Tom Coughlin go. One of the big areas that they worked to really fix was the defensive side of the ball. With that said, the Giants just poured out a lot of money to bring back someone whose best days might actually be behind him. The New York Giants just paid Jason Pierre-Paul a $62 million contract with $40 million guaranteed.
Jason Pierre-Paul’s career with the Giants
Jason Pierre-Paul has only played with the New York Giants over his career. In 2015, the Giants forced him to prove himself to them after a fireworks accident caused him to raise doubts.
In 2016, New York gave him a one-year deal worth $10 million. the two -time All-Pro was a key member of the Giants Super Bowl team in 2011 when he had 16.5 sacks for the season. He finished with 12.5 sacks in 2014 but those were the only two seasons he reached double-digit sack totals. 2014 was also the only season in the last four that Jason played an entire season without injury. While Pierre-Paul was one of the most dominant pass rushers the Giants had, he has a lot to do this year to prove that he is now worth the money that New York has invested in him with this new contract.
The problems with Pierre-Paul’s contract
The good news for the New York Giants is that they were going to pay Jason Pierre-Paul a franchise tender in the amount of $16.934 million so this contract will save them some money this year.
However, they are paying $40 million guaranteed to a player who has not played the same since he blew off part of a finger on his right hand in a fireworks accident. He is only 28, so if he can somehow return to the dominant level he played at before the accident it could be worth it. He did have seven sacks last season and led the league with eight batted passes, so the Giants have to hope they get something back for this contract.
The biggest thing that Jason has to do is lead the Giants back into the playoffs and since the Dallas Cowboys were one of the teams looking at him, maybe the new contract was offered for more than just his past contributions.
