Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul met the media for the first time since his July 4 fireworks accident on Friday afternoon, but he didn’t offer much detail about the accident or his decision to rehab in Florida away from the team before signing with the team this week.
Pierre-Paul said, via James Kratch of NJ.com, “next question” when asked about the perception that he turned his back on the team after the accident, which occurred when Pierre-Paul was unsigned under the franchise tag that the Giants opted to use this offseason to keep Pierre-Paul from being a free agent. He did thank the team for supporting him, however, and said that he won’t be continuing his fireworks tradition next Independence Day.
He said wanted to keep the focus on football this time out and promised that he’s still “the same JPP” he was last year despite missing one finger and part of another on his right hand. He also said he isn’t sure how the injuries will impact his ability on the field and said that we’ll have to “wait and see” if he can play with his hand on the ground, so it seems that there may be at least a few differences from the JPP of 2014.
Pierre-Paul won’t travel with the team to New Orleans this weekend and hasn’t been formally added to the 53-man roster yet, but that’s expected sometime in the next couple of weeks.