There doesn't seem to be much optimism regarding the remainder of New York Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul's NFL career in the wake of a fireworks incident which resulted in the amputation of his right index finger and a broken thumb.
While the injury and loss of a digit are expected to keep Pierre-Paul off the field for six weeks at a minimum, it could have larger repercussions where his professional life is concerned.
"For every defensive end and outside linebacker, the whole game is your hands. It's about grabbing and controlling people with your hands. It's about engaging and disengaging. You're never going to have the hand strength you had before," said NFL Network analyst and former NFL player Brian Baldinger, via Mark Eckel of NJ.com.
"Even if you grab with four fingers right now, or even three fingers and your thumb, you're not going to have the strength that you would normally have. You get a tremendous amount of strength from your forefinger, index finger and the space between the two. That's how you control your opponent. You just cannot be the same player without it. Everything you do is to get that guy off of you."
Another former NFL player, Hugh Douglas, agreed with Baldinger's sentiment.
"He's going to have to re-learn everything he does,'' Douglas said, via a separate report from Eckel. "He's going to have to learn how to use his hand without having an index finger.
Baldinger, who referred to Pierre-Paul's injury as "absolutely tragic" and the result of "stupid, reckless behavior," said that he's uncertain Pierre-Paul can ever recapture the once-dominant form he showed.
"The question [general manager] Jerry Reese, [head coach] Tom Coughlin and everyone on that staff is asking themselves right now is, 'What kind of player is this guy at this point?'" Baldinger said. "It's really going to change the way he plays. I don't see how in the world he can ever be a great player again. Ever.
"They have to be asking themselves ... what kind of player are they getting now? Are they getting a part-time player? Will he just be a shell of his former self? I don't think anybody really knows."
The Giants slapped Pierre-Paul with the franchise tag this offseason which, for defensive ends, means a one-year contract worth approximately $15 million. Baldinger doubts that the team will be willing to pay him that sum for this coming season.
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