Jason Pierre-Paul hopes free agent defensive lineman Justin Tuck returns, but if the longtime Giant decides to leave, Pierre-Paul is ready to fill a leadership void.
Tuck told The Post’s Bart Hubbuch on Thursday morning he was looking forward to becoming a free agent.
“It’s on me to carry [the] New York [Giants] on my back on the defense” if Tuck does bolt, Pierre-Paul said while signing autographs at the Macy’s NFL Shop on Thursday.
Though he hopes Tuck returns, Pierre-Paul would understand if he departs after nine seasons.
“At the end of the day, it’s a business,” he said. “Who knows what Tuck’s going to do? I’m proud of him either way he goes, whichever route.”
The 25-year-old defensive end and former first-round pick, who just finished his fourth season with Big Blue, believes he is ready to get back to being the pass-rushing dynamo he was in his first two years before a spate of injuries.
Pierre-Paul wasn’t the same player following offseason back surgery, notching just 27 tackles and two sacks in 11 games. He injured his right shoulder after his best game, a Week 10 win over the Raiders in which he had a sack and returned an interception for a touchdown, and wasn’t the same before shutting it down over the season’s final five weeks.
“I came back from that bye week, I got a sack. I was really pumped up,” he said. “That was the old me right there. People saw that. But I got my shoulder hurt. You never know when you’re going to get injured.”
When asked whether he was confident of regaining his old form, Pierre-Paul smiled and said: “That was a question?”
“Coming off back surgery was pretty hard, tough, I maintained myself, played through it, tried to be out there for my team, sacrificed my body for them,” he said.
Pierre-Paul described his year as “an up-and-down good season.” He said his shoulder is 90 percent healthy and he is hoping to avoid surgery.
“I’m on the verge of breaking out again and being the old me,” Pierre-Paul said. “I’m going to see [the] doctors again and see what they say, but right now I’m feeling good. I think I’m healthy, I’m about 90 percent healthy. Before the season, I should be even healthier.”
Pierre-Paul didn’t say what personnel improvements he feels the Giants need to make coming off their second straight season without reaching the playoffs, but did say they have to get off to a far better start.
“Honestly, I think we all got to play together,” he said. “Any time you start a season 0-6, pretty much you’re done. One or two [more wins] could’ve put us in the playoffs. … We gotta start off fast and finish faster.”