“It Gets You.”
April 6th, 2022
Joe’s taking a quick break from coaching-change drama, lingering Tom Brady unretirement ecstasy and the NFL Draft to look at how a teammate views Jason Pierre-Paul.
It’s easy to forget that JPP plays with a disability after blowing up his hand in a fireworks accident seven summers ago.
Edge rushers need their hands but JPP has found a way to thrive while missing multiple digits.
It’s something rarely talked about, but the conversation went there with outside linebacker Anthony Nelson on the Sir Yacht podcast. Nelson remarked that the opening handshake with JPP really stands out.
“He doesn’t have all the fingers so it kind of digs into your palm. And it shocks you with the strength he’s got. I mean, yeah, he’s a freak,” Nelson said. “He’s so productive dealing with that injury. It gets you. It shocks you the first time he shakes your hand.”
After breaking his neck in May of 2019, JPP somehow found his way back on the field within six months and had 8 ½ sacks in eight starts that season. He was a unique one-man warrior in his four Bucs seasons, and now he’s on the free agent market rehabbing himself following surgery after playing through a torn rotator cuff last season.
JPP has promised to “kill sh*t” on the field in 2022, but he’s a man without a team.
Nelson went on to marvel at all that JPP has endured and accomplished.
Joe’s confident that JPP isn’t going to play for peanuts this season, wherever he goes. And it’s likely that a team seeking a culture-changing kind of guy will pay him more than the Bucs would.
April 6th, 2022 at 11:33 am
Hopefully JPP isn’t in the mood to go to a team needing a culture change and wants to play for a proven winner.
April 6th, 2022 at 11:36 am
I don’t know if he will command alot in the market with his age and the type of injury he just had.
April 6th, 2022 at 11:37 am
There are a few players TBBF would never bet against & one of them is JPP
If he says he’ll be back, he’ll be back…..Like Joe said, maybe not with the Bucs (sad) because of money.
April 6th, 2022 at 11:55 am
Hope they can work incentive laden contract cause he is a freak for sure
4-5 mil base
Over 5 sacks gets another 1.5 mil
10 sacks gets 3 mil or more cause worth it
Cause making to postseason / super bowl doesnt mean squat if not producing
April 6th, 2022 at 12:05 pm
Remember, JPP took his full salary, yet wasn’t even half a player last year. Somebody will pay him.
BTW, I have dealt with a rotator cuff injury too. You are never going to be the same. Dont’ know how how JPP played at all last year.
April 6th, 2022 at 12:24 pm
Time to move on.
April 6th, 2022 at 12:34 pm
If he wants another ring, he’ll be back….take one for the team and yourself my guy!
April 6th, 2022 at 12:42 pm
Clearly he doesn’t have very much of a market, I would take him back on a very cheap deal but not sure he’s willing to accept it and that seems to be everyone’s thought process.
It would be nice to find an edge rusher in the draft, just a guy who can rush the passer in year 1. Tyreke Smith from Ohio State in the 4th round is a name that comes to mind.
CB, DL, TE, EDGE are real needs, and then LB and P are also quiet needs. A season ending injury to Devin or Lavonte would hurt pretty bad.
Booth, Logan Hall, Ruckert, Tyreke Smith – that would be a pretty good haul. I expect us to focus on defense, we only won the Super Bowl cause we avoided injuries there. We have to add depth for now and the future.
The more I watch of Logan Hall the more I like. He has some Aaron Donald like athleticism, and can play all over the place like Bowles demands.
April 6th, 2022 at 1:04 pm
I think JJP”s time in Red and Pewter might be over. Getting long in the tooth and a lot of injuries have added up over the past 2 years. Love the guy but might be time to say Goodbye…
April 6th, 2022 at 1:27 pm
I remember when we dumped John another fiery leader of our defense cause he was washed up. How many pro bowls did Lynch go to for the Broncos. You can’t coach will and desire. JPP was the reason we beat Atlanta in 2020. His halftime locker room speech was epic and he backed it up with his second half play. Discard JPP at our own peril. If he signs in the South we will regret it
April 6th, 2022 at 1:40 pm
I hope he gets what he wants and has a great season!
April 6th, 2022 at 1:41 pm
Probably he won´t get the money he expects….If not he would already have a team……I am sure that there is a reason nobody signed him yet, and I am also sure is because of the money he expects…….
So i think he come back for the cheap……If not …Thanks for everything, youve been a hell of a player teammate and leader…..Surely be missed
April 6th, 2022 at 1:55 pm
Time gets us all in the end. Whether he is or isn’t done? No one really knows but him.
April 6th, 2022 at 2:00 pm
If we don’t sign JPP I can guarantee we have to face him in the playoffs, probably on Green Bay or New Orleans. Not good.
April 6th, 2022 at 2:05 pm
JPP is still mad he lost his first playoff game vs the rams.
April 6th, 2022 at 2:11 pm
Who Dat Going To Da Playoffs lol
April 6th, 2022 at 2:20 pm
JPP is a #WARRIOR would love to see him back with the Bucs! #LFG
April 6th, 2022 at 2:29 pm
Spent player. No team with a functional front office should sign him. That leaves the commanders, cowboys, and lions.
April 6th, 2022 at 2:54 pm
JPP has more value returning to Tampa than he’d command on the open market. Also salute to Nelson who filled in for JPP & Pat O’Connor when both went down to injury and helped keep our defensive front fresh, he doesn’t get the love he should be getting and quietly showed he can make plays defending the run and getting into the backfield. Cant wait to see if/how his role expands moving foward.
April 6th, 2022 at 3:06 pm
It’s time to move on from JPP.
April 6th, 2022 at 3:15 pm
I am a JPP fan. Just not sure that the Buc’s should re-sign him. I believe the chance for reinjury for a football player that is doing a lot of extension would be very high.
April 6th, 2022 at 4:53 pm
If there is any way…. JPP has an awful lot of heart and “dog” in him.
If there is a way…. I would really like to see him back. Healthy.
April 6th, 2022 at 5:28 pm
If he has another year left to “kill sh@t” I would absolutely love him in the building. Coming back from the rotator cuff at his age with all his other injuries though, I just don’t see it. A shoulder is a really big deal for an edge rusher.
Even though the man is an absolute warrior I think they are going to draft a D lineman and bank on Nelson, who really picked it up in the second half of the year, and JTS to take a big leap forward.
April 6th, 2022 at 6:07 pm
Glue factory.
April 6th, 2022 at 6:39 pm
I disagree.
I think if JPP can go it will be for the Bucs.
5-8 million is peanuts for his caliber even at his age and tooth size.
No way this guy is still after money.
He wants Super Bowles and Hall of Fame.
The first part will ONLY happen in Tampa this year is the selling point.
April 6th, 2022 at 6:42 pm
One of my favorite Bucs ever and I can’t think of anyone that’s played for us that’s tougher than this dude. I’d love to get him back if possible.
April 6th, 2022 at 7:41 pm
He played with one arm last season. No, he wasn’t very effective but he clearly was fighting injury and you can’t take one debilitating injury and just assume he’s old. Not sure I want him back but to a team friendly deal… sure.
April 6th, 2022 at 8:29 pm
JPP has earned 25 million in the past two years alone. Obviously he earned millions before that. He shouldn’t need the money.
But he does need the respect that goes with the money. So I agree with Joe that it makes it more difficult to resign him. However if Licht and Bowles can make a deal that at least makes JPP look respected..we are the next best thing to a home team for him…not the Dolphins but still a short drive.
Lots of guys already here are playing below market value including the Big Kahuna himself. Again if the Bucs can figure a way to go all Aretha
R E S P E C T perhaps JPP will stay.
April 6th, 2022 at 8:46 pm
I’m with those who would LOVE to have JPP back. He played in only 12 regular season games for us before we shut him down, and obviously wasn’t his ‘usual’ self.
But folks may be forgetting who put him on the field for three-fourths of the snaps in those 12 games … Todd Bowles. Bowles could’ve gone with Nelson or JTS more last season in place of JPP … but he didn’t. I’m thinking that our new coach was willing to sacrifice some productivity for something else (maybe LEADERSHIP?). I wouldn’t count JPP out as a Buc just yet.
April 7th, 2022 at 1:09 am
He deserves to be in the Ring of Honor and retire a Buc!
3 year deal!