
This story is only getting worse.
After previous reports that a July 4th fireworks incident led to burns on the hands of New York Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul, it now appears that he may have had a finger amputated.
ESPN's Adam Schefter is reporting that Pierre-Paul had his right index finger amputated. He even has the medical records to prove it.
ESPN obtained medical charts that show Giants DE Jason Pierre-Paul had right index finger amputated today. pic.twitter.com/VI5cbS1uCw
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) July 8, 2015
Thinking of Jason Pierre-Paul is this: Cutting off his finger simplifies and accelerates his recovery. Could be back in fewer than 2 months
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) July 8, 2015All of this seems to be without the knowledge of the New York Giants, who are still relatively in the dark on Pierre-Paul's status. According to Schefter, Giants representatives traveled to Florida in an attempt to visit Pierre-Paul in the hospital, but left Wednesday afternoon without ever actually seeing him:
Giants officials have come and gone from S. Florida without getting chance to visit the injured JPP, per sources. Made trip, never visited.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) July 8, 2015Pierre-Paul entered this past offseason as a restricted free agent. The Giants initially placed the franchise tag on him in an attempt to give them more time to come to terms on a long-term contract. However, Pierre-Paul never signed the one-year $14.8 million franchise tender— which means he's not currently under contract with the them, and isn't obligated to meet with them about the accident.
Since the Giants don't know the specifics of Pierre-Paul's injuries, they've reportedly pulled their $60 million offer.
Though Pierre-Paul was going to turn down the offer, this could affect him in the long-run. As FanSided's Matt Verderame notes, Pierre-Paul wanted big money after seeing players like J.J. Watt and Ndamukong Suh get over $100 million the last two seasons. Pierre-Paul, however, has not been as consistent as Watt or Suh, and now has even further injury concerns.
Spotrac recently estimated Pierre-Paul's worth around $69 million — still well short of that $100 million figure:
Our recent valuation for Jason Pierre-Paul saw a new deal w/ the #Giants worth 5yrs/$69M ($29.2M g’teed). Likely not an option now.
— Spotrac (@spotrac) July 6, 2015If he doesn't have a great season, he could regret turning down $60 million.