GIANTS TRADE PIERRE-PAUL TO BUCS
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. » Sending two-time Pro Bowl defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul to Tampa Bay for two draft picks gives the New York Giants much-needed salary cap space for 2019 and allows the Buccaneers to continue rebuilding a line that had the fewest sacks in the NFL last season.
With the unexpected trade announced Thursday, the Giants take another step in their rebuilding under new general manager Dave Gettleman and the Bucs upgraded their defense in a bid to end a decadelong playoff drought.
The Giants will get Tampa Bay’s third-round pick (69th overall) in the draft in late April. The teams also will swap fourthround picks, with the Bucs moving up to the 102nd pick and the Giants selecting 108th.
“Jason is an elite-level edge rusher who will make an immediate impact on our defense,” Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht said in a story posted on the team’s website . “We are adding a two-time Pro Bowler who is passionate about the game and has established himself as one of the league’s premier defensive ends.”
While the trade only clears up a couple of million dollars in cap space this year, the benefit for the Giants — who were 3-13 last season — will be in 2019 when it sheds roughly $18 million in cap space. That will be important with safety Landon Collins and receiver Odell Beckham Jr. both possibly looking for new contracts.
The effects will be more immediate for the Bucs, who were 5-11 last season and had 22 sacks.
Pierre-Paul, who had 8½
sacks last season and 58½ since being drafted with the 15th pick overall in 2010, joins a team that recently signed two members of the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles, defensive end Vinny Curry and tackle Beau Allen. Former Bears tackle Mitch Unrein also was signed.
They join returning sixtime Pro Bowl defensive tackle Gerald McCoy on a Bucs’ line that hasn’t had a player finish with doubledigit sacks since Simeon Rice in 2005.
Not only does Pierre-Paul give the Bucs a pass rusher, the 29-year-old is an everydown player who has overcome a fireworks accident in 2015 that severely damaged his right hand. He signed a $62 million contract last year.