He has seen Osi Umenyiora go. He has seen Justin Tuck go. As next in line to accept the mantle as the next great Giants defensive end, Jason Pierre-Paul admits his own Giants mortality has crossed his mind.
“I’m not going to lie, seeing Tuck gone is on my mind a little bit,’’ Pierre-Paul said Thursday at training camp. “When I’m on that field, family matters or whatever, off-the-field issues, I’m not worried about it. When I’m on the field it’s all about my brothers and what I do best. Off the field, when you go home or whatever that’s when you think about that stuff.’’
That stuff is serious. Pierre-Paul is entering the final year of his original five-year rookie contract and what once was considered to be a foregone conclusion — re-signing him — is not the slam dunk it once was. After one poor season and one even worse than that — he calls 2013 “a lost year’’ — the assumption cannot be that Pierre-Paul will walk on the field and reprise his overwhelming 2011 (16.5 sacks) output simply by showing up.
Pierre-Paul had only two sacks in 11 games last season and admits he rushed back onto the field to play in the season opener even though his surgically repaired back was not yet healed enough for the rigors of NFL football.
“I wasn’t ready,’’ Pierre-Paul said. “But I felt like I needed to be out there because I was one of those guys that’s a factor to the team, and with me being gone, it’s a big difference, which it was.’’
That facsimile of Pierre-Paul has been replaced, for now, by a player who is once again predicting domination. Asked how he’s doing, Pierre-Paul said, “I’m awesome,” and that he is “at 110 percent.’’
He jokingly evaluated his summer matchup with left tackle Will Beatty by saying, “I’m looking forward to dominating Will Beatty, to kill him.’’
It has been a while since JPP sounded so frisky.
“I’m all for it,’’ Tom Coughlin said of JPP’s ‘110 percent’ declaration. “We want him to be the very best he can be and I’m glad he’s in that frame of mind, feels good about himself. We’re looking forward for a very, very good year from JPP.’’
If Pierre-Paul’s production can match his mind-set, the Giants might have the JPP of old, the one who in 2011 terrorized opposing offenses and at times appeared to single-handedly steer the Giants to the Super Bowl. For the first time in two years, Pierre-Paul says he feels completely healthy, his back surgery and nagging shoulder issues in the rearview mirror and his sights set on a big, big 2014 season.
This is a huge year for Pierre-Paul. He’ll make $3.1 million and then hit free agency, unless the Giants tie him up with a new long-term deal.
Pierre-Paul doesn’t see himself leaving. Of course, no one really anticipated Tuck walking out the door into the open market, never to return, as he signed with the Raiders for nearly double what the Giants offered him.
“I always thought that I was going to be here next year because I know how I play and I know what kind of game I bring when I’m on the field,’’ Pierre-Paul said. “I’m pretty sure everybody here knows it, too.’’
Coughlin last summer insinuated Pierre-Paul at 285 pounds might have been carrying too much weight, something JPP never agreed was the case. Still, he was down to near 270 this spring and is listed in this training camp at 278 pounds.
“I’m going to put it like this: I don’t think my weight was an issue,’’ Pierre-Paul said. “I lost the weight just to lose the weight. The year we won the Super Bowl I was 285. I was running like a lion. My weight wasn’t really the issue.’’
Pierre-Paul is only 25 years old and he’s the heir apparent to a defensive end legacy that started with Michael Strahan and continued with Umenyiora and Tuck. JPP said he, from time to time, reaches out to Strahan — who next weekend gets inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame — and that he understands he’s next in line.
“Osi came in, [Strahan] taught Osi, Osi taught Tuck and Tuck taught me,’’ Pierre-Paul said. “That’s a pattern. Maybe I’ll teach some of these kids.’’