New York Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul is set to become an unrestricted free agent following this season. He is currently making roughly $3.1 million in base salary this season in the final year of his contract with the Giants.
JPP's free agency value is tricky to figure out. As a first-round pick in 2010, the pass rusher racked up 21 sacks in his first two seasons (including 16.5 in his second year). However, since then, Pierre-Paul has dealt with back injuries and failed to live up to expectations. He has just 15.5 sacks in 40 games since his breakout year.
Still, Pierre-Paul is only 25 and an excellent run defender. He should generate solid interest as a free agent and the Giants seem unlikely to use the franchise tag on him after the season.
"The Giants, who don't use the franchise tag, are expected to have somewhere slightly over $20 million to spend this offseason, if they so choose," wrote Jordan Raanan of NJ.com. "They're not going to put $15 million of that into Pierre-Paul on the franchise tag.
"You can pretty much rule this option out already."
So, what kind of deal will a young, underachieving yet still productive defensive end such as JPP get on the open market?
Raanan believes the highest a team would be willing to go is in the range of the contract the Buffalo Bills signed Mario Williams to in 2012. That deal was for six years and $96 million, with $50 million in guaranteed money and an average annual salary of $16 million.
Personally, I don't see that happening.
The five-year, $43 million deal ($8.6 million annually) with $23 million guaranteed that Michael Johnson received from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers seems like a much more realistic benchmark.
Pierre-Paul has 61 total tackles this season with seven sacks and two forced fumbles.
