JPP & The Falcons
February 12th, 2020
Raise your hand if you don’t think Jason Pierre-Paul will have several options in free agency?
The man seems to have super powers when it comes to injury recovery, but more important, he has 21 sacks in his last 26 games for the Buccaneers.
Pass rushers get paid. Established pass rushers get paid more.
The Bucs like JPP, but they also know JPP gambled on himself last season, agreeing to void his fat 2020 contract and play for incentives last year. He won the gamble and will — and should — now expect to be paid like a No. 1 pass rusher. Yeah, JPP just turned 31, but he is a freakish athlete.
From age 31 through age 35, former Dolphins edge rusher Cameron Wake racked up 49 sacks and three Pro Bowl trips in those five years. Anyone thinks JPP is capable of that?
Joe is confident at least a couple of NFL teams will take that bet if given the chance next month when the free agency dinner bell rings.
Longtime BSPN NFL analyst and numbers cruncher Bill Barnwell suggests the sacks-challenged Falcons are hunting an established pass rusher. Anyone who has watched the Falcons knows they’re desperate.
3. Find a No. 1 pass-rusher. The Falcons have to be considered candidates for each of the top available edge rushers, though they’re going to need to get creative to compete for Jadeveon Clowney. This could be a landing spot for Dante Fowler Jr. or short-term options like Robert Quinn or Jason Pierre-Paul.
Atlanta’s late-season surge means it will be picking 16th in April’s draft. The Falcons could move down and add extra picks, but it wouldn’t be the worst idea if they ended up using their pick on an edge defender, too.
Joe thinks the Falcon’s fiery new defensive coordinator, Raheem Morris, would love to get his hands on JPP, along with head coach Dan Quinn who values speed on defense.
February 12th, 2020 at 10:34 am
Winston to the Panthers, JPP to the Falcons, next will be Perriman to the Saints?
February 12th, 2020 at 10:35 am
If Shaq gets signed couldn’t we just tag Jason? If we used the non-exclusive tag then someone would need to forfeit 2 number one picks if we didn’t match their offer. JPP is one of my favorite players, but I’d take 2 number ones for him all day long.
February 12th, 2020 at 10:36 am
No please, not the Falcons. Keep JPP and Shaq at all costs. A great Duo who feed off each other with the big guys in the middle. Hope Suh stays one more year too.
February 12th, 2020 at 10:37 am
agree with what someone else said yesterday. he and Shaq should be paid the same. maybe Shaq gets a 4 yr deal and JPP a 3, due to age, but paid them similarly….and incentivize them!—look what it did last year.
If JPP want’s fat money up front then he can be a cap casualty as sad as that would be. Would wish him well either way.
February 12th, 2020 at 10:45 am
We finally get a pass rush in the last two years and leave it to the front office idiot to find a way to squander it.
February 12th, 2020 at 10:49 am
Buczilla, that is a great point.
Personally, I am hoping JPP will take around 12-13m to stay.
February 12th, 2020 at 10:50 am
I think the interstate system through Atlanta would be hazardous to his health. For purely humanitarian reasons, he should stay here for at least another year.
Maybe Jameis will say the=at he wants 100 million guaranteed and JPP will get franchised. I think it would be cheaper to give him a two year deal with 12 million solis rach year and bonuses for over 10 sacks.
February 12th, 2020 at 11:03 am
Jeez…OF COURSE, all FA’s will have numerous options…
Sheesh…non-story.
February 12th, 2020 at 11:06 am
If we lose JPP we will probably be drafting A.J. Epenesa in round 1 and re-signing Carl Nassib or maybe sign Vic Beasley. I hope we keep JPP but it might get expensive.
February 12th, 2020 at 11:26 am
Shaq said he’d be willing to give a discount. I bet a big part of that is to also play with the same guys he was gelling with.
Prioirity One – Keep our entire D in place
Priority Two – Get a solid RT FA or Draft
Priority Three – BA decides who our QB will be
Priority Four – fix the penalties and coach up the special teams
In BA I Trust!
February 12th, 2020 at 11:41 am
I hope it doesn’t come to this, I know Licht loves JPP, I hope he signs him and Barrett to good contracts before March
February 12th, 2020 at 12:04 pm
This is the SILLY season. Sometimes you can’t make stuff up. The Atlanta falcons have ZERO chance of signing Pierre-Paul. Listen, the falcons cap situation is sooooo horrible that it forced them to keep the coaching staff because they can’t turnover the roster for a new coach. Think of the Bucs situation last year times 100!!
I know I know the next thing that will be said is you can figure it out and free up space. Actually, the falcons can’t!!! They are under cap by 5 million and that’s not enough to sign the draft class.
Well just cut people—-problem with that is they only have 1 (ONE) player making over $600,000 who they could cut without taking a dead money hit and that is Keanu Neal who they won’t cut.
In fact the falcons have $262,000,000 in dead money assigned to their top 20 highest paid players!!!!! With 19/20 coming with dead money if cut or traded
On the other end the Bucs only have 71,000,000 ties to dead money with 55 million of that tied to only 3 players in Evans, white and d.smith. So the bucs are really only tied deeply to about 5/20 top 20 players
Atlanta is in such a cap MESS they were FORCED to keep the coaches. (Think about that) no need to get new coaches if you have zero chance to turn over roster.
Arians was slightly limited last year in this aspect but not this year
The thought of this is ludicrous
February 12th, 2020 at 12:22 pm
Of all our pending free agents this is the one we can’t lose. JPP is far more vital to the success of our defense than any stats could ever portray. Make sure this man retires a Buccaneer.
February 12th, 2020 at 12:32 pm
We need to sign JPP and Shaq and then go after Vic Beasley for a 1 year prove it contract. I’m sure he’d be interested in playing the Falcons twice.
February 12th, 2020 at 12:59 pm
cant lose the leader of the team….simple as that…..
and im sure SHAQs, “i’ll take a little less” comments were music to JPPs ears….
of all our FAs JPP has the most leverage…..thanks licht…you’ve outsmarted yourself yet again!!!!
GO BUCS!!!!!
February 12th, 2020 at 1:00 pm
snook
BINGO!!!!!!
GO BUCS!!!!!
February 12th, 2020 at 1:11 pm
would not overpay for JPP
he may be an achor….but anchors come lose
the get hurt off the field, miss time, getting older etc.
he’s good, but if he’s just looking for a big deal let him wal. I would franchise him though, but then he could mail it in. pay him and shaq similar, good guarantees and huge incentives. let them eat what they kill.
February 12th, 2020 at 2:28 pm
Mike … Excellent analysis on the Falcons’ situation. It’s humorous when some folks just throw out scenarios without thinking their way through them. Throw the spitball & see what sticks to the wall.
Pretty much the same with franchise tagging JPP. As a DE his franchise tag would cost a tad over $19 mil. Somehow I doubt that’ll happen for a 31-year-old. Just a hunch though.
Back in Feb 2017 the Giants tagged JPP for $16.9 mil, but he signed a 4-year contract less than 3 weeks later for $62 mil ($15.5 mil/year average). That’s what we picked up, although we restructured that contract last season to a 1-year $3 mil contract with $7.5 mil in incentives while he was recovering. Hard to imagine anyone paying JPP much more than about $13 mil a year on a 3-4 year contract now that’s he’s 31.
What the Bucs NEED to do is re-sign JPP, Shaq AND Suh, then draft a decent DE/DT/OLB someplace in the Top-4 Rnds (as in someone who can learn from guys like JPP, Suh & Shaq while they’re here & one day take their spots?). We can’t keep drafting players in ‘clumps’ like we have been. OLinemen & DLinemen are the beasts of our team & we NEED to be drafting at least one of EACH every single year in say the Top-4 Rnds. Build the trenches.
February 12th, 2020 at 2:59 pm
Painful headline… we need JPP as much as Suh to keep the young guys edgy and focused. If we have to pay a little extra for the leadership, just do it!
February 12th, 2020 at 4:11 pm
The falcons situation is actually worse then I thought from above. They already have $187,000,000 on the books for 2021. It’s all guaranteed!!!!! And it’s ONLY for 27 players!!! Sure there will be a new CBA, and everything could be different….but besides the Vikings at 177mil. Some teams are at 150 million but most teams are wayyyyyyy less in the 100-130 mil range. Yes our number will change when we sign a QB and stuff (Bucs only have 95 million committed to 2021 and that includes the team option on D. Smith) but we as BUC fans should be soooo thrilled we have mike (I hate dead money) greenburg then whoever is doing contracts for the falcons.
This reminds me of when we had to cut all the vets after Bruce Allen ruined our cap
February 12th, 2020 at 4:35 pm
West Chap……I wholeheartedly agree and I would go as far to say that JPP is the largest priority in free agency on defense. Yes, larger then Shaq because of his leadership.
Remember back when JPP was heard cussing out a teammate for laughing about partying after a loss? Thats all the proof I need to conspire that he was a big reason why Hergreaves got run out of town.
My next conspiracy revolves around Hergreaves and the Lombardi story about strip clubs and I doubt Vernon went all alone……….The week after Hergreaves left Dean was inexplicably benched. Upon Dean’s return the secondary magically got their heads out their asses and started playing good football.
JPP rooted out the scum on this team in mine opinion and he shook up that locker room. Probably let everybody know if they are on the team to party they can go the Vernon route(he kissed goodbye to $10,000,000 when he got booted). The response was solid football and a real turning point for this Bucs defense!!!!
That’s real leadership and to all the Gerald lovers that is exactually what he never did and why some fans hated him.
GO BUCS!!!!!!!!
February 12th, 2020 at 5:06 pm
I you don’t sign Jameis Winston – there is enough money for JPP, Barrett and Suh. Build upon the successes – and launch the failures.
February 12th, 2020 at 10:57 pm
If the Bucs expect an investment in Shaq tompay off, they’d better pay JPP to stay also. He’s the most important defensive cog, IMO.
If JPP were on the field, the Bucs win the Giants game and the Seahawks game.