Jason Pierre-Paul: Giants withdraw $60 million offer

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. This is an age-old saying and now one New York Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul will unfortunately never forget.

Pierre-Paul, 26, has been holding out of all Giants offseason activities, waiting for a better offer than New York’s $60 million overture. Sadly, Pierre-Paul injured his hand on July 4 with fireworks, leaving him with burns and potential nerve damage, according to Dan Graziano of ESPN. In light of this, New York retracted its offer, leaving Pierre-Paul with only the franchise tag as an option, per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.

The Giants had put him on the franchise tag before free agency, a number of $14.8 million guaranteed in 2015. However, Pierre-Paul apparently wanted a long-term deal in excess of $60 million after seeing both J.J. Watt and Ndamukong Suh get more than $100 million each over the past year.

Pierre-Paul has endured an interesting career with the Giants since being taken with the 15th-overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft. The Florida native showed promise in his rookie year with 4.5 sacks before exploding onto the national scene in 2011, earning All-Pro honors and a Super Bowl ring with 16.5 sacks and a blocked field goal in primetime against the Dallas Cowboys.

Then, suddenly, Pierre-Paul only registered 8.5 sacks over the next two seasons while dealing with a litany of ailments, including a problematic back injury. In 2014, Pierre-Paul rebounded with 12.5 sacks and three forced fumbles, convincing general manager Jerry Reese to place the franchise tag on him. While Pierre-Paul is ultra talented, his notion of being worth more than $60 million (depending on guaranteed money) could be a stretch. He has only been productive in two of five seasons, and has an extensive injury history despite missing only five games in his career.

Now with this latest issue, Pierre-Paul has plenty of new questions to answer.