JPP returns healthy, excited for camp
The Giants moved their first workout of their 2016 training camp inside the Quest Diagnostic Center Friday because their outdoor facility had become unplayable from heavy overnight rain.
Jason Pierre Paul didn’t mind the switch one bit. He was just happy to be at training camp after missing out on last year’s entire camp. That wasn’t all the big defensive end missed a year ago.
But his return healthy and hungry is a big reason the defense that was worst in the NFL last year could return to old form and be one of the best this season.
No longer is JPP playing with the ‘club’ on his right hand that he needed after losing three fingers in a July 4 fireworks fiasco a year ago. When he returned to play the final eight games he recorded eight sacks and had 26 tackles to pump some life into a defensive front that had been beaten badly without him.
“I was effective last season with a club on so I feel I can be more effective this year,” he said. “My hand feels great now, I’m not complaining. My right hand feels like my left hand.”
With the addition of veterans Olivier Vernon and Johnathan Hankins in the offseason, Big Blue should be far improved up front. Damon Harrison is a big newcomer, too.
“They will fill in well. They feel they are in the Giants family now. They will do whatever it takes, like I will,” added JPP. “Our front line should be improved. We will have a chemistry together.”