The New York Giants will finally meet face to face with defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul, injured during a fireworks accident over the Fourth of July weekend, which resulted in the amputation of his right ring finger, on Monday, according to a report from Ian Rapoport of NFL.com.
Per Rapoport, JPP will meet with team officials and take a physical. The physical will of great importance considering the team was denied access to Pierre-Paul throughout his injury ordeal, which occurred in Florida, and so the organization has been operating with full or, apparently any, knowledge of his current status. It has been surmised that JPP will likely start the season on the non-football injury list and miss at least the first six weeks of the season. Still, it seems the Giants are determined to see Pierre-Paul suit up for them this season and will "take whatever contributions" JPP can offer in 2015, according to Rapoport.
Rapoport indicated last month that Pierre-Paul's recovery was "progressing very well," but that it was still unclear just when he'd be ready to return to the field for a Giants team that was likely to be struggling to pressure quarterbacks this season even with JPP in the lineup. The team slapped Pierre-Paul with the $14.8 million franchise tag for defensive ends this offseason, and reports in July suggested that the Giants hadn't rescinded it even after reports of his accident and injury began to circulate.
The team did place him on the reserve/franchise tag list in order to reach the 75-player limit early in Sep. to, in essence, put his status on hold until such time as they can determine the extent of his injury, something they will now do on Monday.