NFC East Roundup: What’s Next For Pierre-Paul?

Here’s our weekly look at what’s going on around the rest of the NFC East:

NEW YORK GIANTS

Despite the fireworks incident, Jason Pierre-Paul isn’t going anywhere, writes Jordan Raanan of NJ.com:

After all that has transpired since the Fourth of July weekend fireworks accident that cost Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul his right index finger, he remains a valuable commodity.

The Giants fully intend to have Pierre-Paul on their roster for the 2015 season, a person with knowledge of the situation told NJ Advance Media. Unauthorized to speak publicly on the situation, the person requested anonymity.

Pierre-Paul currently has a one-year, $14.8 million offer on the table as the Giants’ franchise player.

Eli Manning weighs in on Pierre-Paul, via NOLA.com:

“Obviously (Pierre-Paul) is an important player,” Manning said. “He is a force on the defensive side, so hopefully everything gets healed up and healthy, and he’s able to continue playing football at a high level.”

“I don’t know the whole story of how it all happened, but you never want to see any professional athletes get injured, especially in a way that probably could have been avoided,” Manning said.

DALLAS COWBOYS

Jon Machota of The Dallas Morning News examines the impact of Greg Hardy’s reduced suspension:

Despite the four-game suspension, Hardy will be able to participate in training camp. That should give the defensive front plenty of time to work against arguably the league’s best offensive line.

The New York Giants won two of the last eight Super Bowls by lining up four talented defensive end-type pass rushers, using rotations that included Michael Strahan, Osi Umenyiora, Justin Tuck, Mathias Kiwanuka and Jason Pierre-Paul.

The Cowboys are hoping 12 regular-season games with Hardy will lead to a similar result.

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk pokes holes in Harold Henderson’s decision:

So, to summarize, Henderson doesn’t know whether the NFL used the old policy (which produced a two-game suspension for first-offense domestic violence incidents) or the new policy (which moved the baseline to six), Henderson doesn’t think it matters to the resolution of Hardy’s case, and then Henderson relies on the new six-game baseline as proof that 10 games is too many, reducing it to a number below the new baseline.

And it took Henderson only 43 days to reach that convoluted and logically inconsistent conclusion.

WASHINGTON

Mike Jones of The Washington Post provides a reminder that the Eagles aren’t the only team with a question mark at safety:

But the starting strong safety job, and the spots on the depth chart at both positions also remain unresolved as the Redskins enter training camp later this month.

Ihenacho, who is coming off of a foot injury that cost him the bulk of the 2014 season, and Johnson – a special teams ace and backup in Seattle while stuck behind Kam Chancellor and Earl Thomas before signing with Washington – spent the offseason rotating at strong safety.

It’s expected that they will continue to compete at that spot throughout training camp and the preseason.

And things become even more muddled from there.

John Keim of ESPN Washington was asked whether an improved offensive line and having another year in Jay Gruden’s system will help Robert Griffin III:

That should help no doubt. As of now, we don’t know if the blocking will be that much better but let’s take a leap of faith and think that it will be. What should happen is the run game improves, better passing situations ensue and Griffin benefits because the play-action game should be better. His knowledge of the offense should help, too. The question is: Will that be enough to offset the concerns the football people have about his game? The fear has been that his problems are not related to these other factors as much as they are to his own fundamentals and inability to develop in the basics as a passer. We’ll find out.