The NY Giants have opened OTA workouts without Jason Pierre-Paul and while head coach Tom Coughlin expects him in training camp, the defensive end has not agreed to a contract yet and this comes as Odell Beckham Jr. and Larry Donnell sat out of practice with injuries.
Beckham dealt with a hamstring issue after the NFL draft last year heading into offseason workouts and now he is dealing with a similar injury. According to New York Daily News reporter Ralph Vacchiano, Beckham sat out of team drills with hamstring soreness on Monday and he could be limited in camp moving forward. Coughlin said the hamstring is not the same one that bothered Beckham last year in camp. Beckham has dealt with hamstring issues before and last season he was able to start fast despite missing four games and most of the Giants offseason program.
Beckham won rookie of the year last season despite missing four games and he is expected to be the top playmaker with Victor Cruz for Eli Manning. According to Pro Football Talk, the Giants also were without Larry Donnell, as he was sitting out with Achilles tendinitis, while Robert Ayers was out with a sprained ankle. Beckham played in 12 games last season and had 91 catches for 1305 yards and 12 touchdowns and that was without Cruz being healthy.
The Giants won just six games last season and missed the playoffs again and now the team is expecting a rebound in 2015. Eli Manning is coming back after a strong season and is in the final year of his contract, while the team is hoping Cruz can return from a serious knee injury. Beckham and Rueben Randle are the top wide receivers along with Cruz and the Giants likely are taking precautionary measures with Beckham, who now may be the best player on the team.
Beckham said to the New York Daily News after workouts on Monday that he has dealt with hamstring soreness before and that his current issue is "not comparable" to the injury last year. Beckham dealt with an issue on his left side last year and this time around it's the other leg and is just a soreness issue and not a serious injury. Beckham said he would be able to play if needed and the time missed is not as big of a deal, as he has spent a year with the Ben McAdoo offense and clearly was successful last season.
According to the Newark Star-Ledger, Pierre-Paul was not present for the first day of voluntary workouts and there is a chance he could skip the rest of team activities. The Giants used the franchise tag on Pierre-Paul and the two sides have until July 15 to work out a long term contract. Pierre-Paul is 26 years old and the franchise tag tender will pay him nearly $15 million for one season if he signs it. JPP had a bounce back season in 2014 with 12.5 sacks and the Giants are hoping they can work out an agreement for 2015. Pierre-Paul had two down seasons before last year and now he is looking to get paid.