The New York Giants reportedly sent representatives down to Florida on Tuesday to gauge the extent of the injuries to franchise tagged defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul, suffered during a fireworks mishap on the fourth of July.
The Giants fact-finding mission may have turned up better news than expected overall, but, according to a report from Jason Cole of Bleacher Report, the injuries suffered by Pierre-Paul are still likely to cost the mammoth defender as many as six games to start the 2015 NFL season.
"The New York Giants believe that defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul dodged a bullet in suffering only flesh injuries to his hand," Cole reports. "He did not lose any bone, did not lose any fingers in the hand. They also believe there was no nerve damage at this point in time that cannot be recovered from. However, that doesn't mean that this is not a long-term recovery for Jason Pierre-Paul, because they believe he is going to have to have or has already had skin grafts onto that hand.
"In this case, it is an unusual situation and the team has never really dealt with a skin graft kind of repair to a hand. That means that ultimately, the Giants are likely to put Jason Pierre-Paul on the non-football injury list, meaning that he may have to miss the first six weeks of the season."
Early reports indicated that the injuries were extremely serious, possibly to the point of disfigurement or amputation, but those rumors were quickly debunked and it sounded instead like, while the man they call JPP clearly suffered "severe burns," he was not injured in a career or even season-threatening manner, though the Giants brass were said to be so concerned with the poor decision-making Pierre-Paul showed that they rescinded the long-term, $60 million contract they'd offered him earlier this offseason.
Then, late Tuesday, another report surfaced that Pierre-Paul could potentially be in danger of missing the start of the regular season - it seems now that that likelihood has apparently increased and Pierre-Paul very well may be headed for the non-football injury list, meaning the Giants and new defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo are desperately in need of pass-rush help.
