New York Giants Absent Star: Jason Pierre Paul

By: Marco Imperati | Featured Columnist

Giants mini camp has come and gone. Just like that, the countdown to training camp 2015 begins. This is pretty much the only downtime of the NFL season.

For the Giants, besides a few minor ailments to Nat Berhe, Devon Kennard, and Odell Beckham Jr. (didn’t we just go through this with him?) the real headliner is Jason Pierre Paul and the cloudy situation regarding his contract.

The Giants placed the franchise tender on JPP. Similar to other stars like Dez Bryant and Demaryius Thomas, JPP has not signed his franchise tender. In addition, this has kept Bryant, Thomas and JPP absent from “voluntary” OTA’s and mini-camp.

Although absent, JPP has been active on twitter and instagram posting videos of himself working out. Fans can take those video’s as a hidden message from the defensive end. Even though he is not around his teammates and coaches, he is working hard and all signs point to him eventually showing up and having the monster season the Giants need him to have and JPP wants.

The Giants and JPP have until July 15th to strike a long-term deal. If no deal is made by 4:00 pm on July 15th, then JPP will sign his franchise tender, however both sides can not negotiate a long-term deal until after the season. Reports thus far are that Giants front office, coaches and JPP have had a respectful and healthy discourse regarding a long-term contract.

This past week, defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo met with the media. When asked if it was difficult implementing a new defense without a star player present, Spags’ response may have surprised a lot of people looking for a juicy headline. Spags said, “He’s going to be behind because of what we’re doing right now, “ Spagnuolo said of JPP. “he had been around for a period of time and did a little bit of the mental work, which I greatly appreciated. I thought that spoke volumes to who he is, what he’s about, and how important it is to him”.

Of course, anything can happen leading up to July 15th. Giants fans, you be the judge. How do you feel about JPP sitting out of mini-camp and OTA’s? Is this just the process that players in his position are going through right now or do you think this behavior is setting the stage for a lingering contract problem?