On July 4th ten years ago, former New York Giants pass-rusher Jason Pierre-Paul had the whole world at, if you’ll pardon the pun, his fingertips.
Pierre-Paul was a Super Bowl champion, a two-time Pro Bowler and a first-team All-Pro. He became a huge part of the vaunted defensive front featuring the likes of Osi Umenyiora and latterly Michael Strahan that Eli Manning was able to lean on, winning two Super Bowls in the process.
Pierre-Paul’s contribution was 58.5 sacks and three defensive touchdowns in an eight-year career, and was certainly one of the most feared defensive linemen in the league.
That all changed after a July 4th accident which left him with a serious hand injury, and left him without one finger on his right hand. That affected his performance in the 2015 season and would ultimately lead to a divorce from the Giants in 2018, although Pierre-Paul would find some form in the back half of his career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, winning a second ring in conjunction with Tom Brady in 2020.
Now, a decade on, Pierre-Paul is reflecting on his accident, and also mischievously recounted his desire to rejoin his former team.
Pierre-Paul shares accident regrets, advocates for Giants return
Speaking to ESPN, Pierre-Paul lamented his accident and its consequences, but also hopefully stated that he thought he could still have an impact in 2025 for the Giants.
“I wouldn’t want my kids to go through something I went through. I learned from it. At the end of the day, I’m a big person, but this happened to me. It could happen to anybody. “I tell Josiah [his son] straight up, ‘You got 10 fingers, right? He says, ‘Yes.’ I said, ‘Well, you want to stay with them? Once they’re gone, you can’t replace them.’ “My message to kids is you never know how life is going to go…don’t put yourself in a predicament that you’re going to regret later.”
On a more positive note, Pierre-Paul also talked about his desire to get back in the league, and with one team in particular.
“I can still do it,” said Pierre-Paul. “[On the Giants], I think that’ll be dope. Tremendous, to go back somewhere where my career started…the fans know me and know the type of player that I am. I’ll always be that type of player and just give ’em everything I got, which I know it’ll be more than enough.”
Pierre-Paul noted a desire to reach 100 sacks, sitting on 94.5 at the time of writing at age 36.
The Giants don’t need Pierre-Paul…but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t do it
On the face of it, Pierre-Paul’s dream seems likely to stay that. He’s 36, and while he isn’t officially retired following three games in the 2023 season between the New Orleans Saints and Miami Dolphins, the lack of interest in his services, and the fact he hasn’t had a productive season since 2020, massively count against his chances of returning.
For the Giants, who are already carrying Brian Burns, Dexter Lawrence, Abdul Carter and Kayvon Thibodeaux, among others, it makes even less sense, as surprisingly, the one place the Giants don’t seem to need an infusion of talent is the defensive line.
That said, why not? After all, the team that took down the Patriots twice in the Eli Manning era had so many defensive ends to call on that they created the plateauing system we see so much today, and it ended in two Super Bowls, albeit with people like Steve Spagnuolo calling the defenses. Perhaps the Giants ought to take a flyer on Pierre-Paul and add him to their already bursting pass-rusher stock. It’d certainly be fun to watch, and that’s not something we often associate with New York lately….
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