New York Giants

Coughlin has been texting JPP, expects him back for minicamp

Published May. 13, 2015 10:22 a.m. ET

foxsports

New York Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul has not signed his franchise tag tender yet, and when the team convened for their voluntary offseason workouts last month, Pierre-Paul remained in Florida to train.

His absence from the voluntary portion of the offseason program is not ideal, but it's also not very back-breaking either. If Pierre-Paul were to miss the team's upcoming mandatory minicamp next month, then several people within the Giants organization may change their tune on the situation. Head coach Tom Coughlin is hoping that it won't come to that.

"I expect him to be there," Coughlin said to Tom Rock of Newsday, "but we'll have to see."

Of course, Coughlin has never been a wait-and-see kind of person, so he took the initiative to get in touch with Pierre-Paul. Despite his age (68), Coughlin understands the best way to reach this generation of players.

"We went back and forth about two weeks ago with some text inquiries and so on and so forth," Coughlin said of Pierre-Paul. "He's working hard. He tells me he's working hard. And he's spoken to [defensive line coach] Robert Nunn on more than one occasion too."

Pierre-Paul finished his 2014 season on a tear racking up nine of his 12.5 total sacks over the Giants' last five games of the regular season. With new defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo introducing a new defensive scheme, the mandatory minicamp is a vital program for Pierre-Paul and the Giants defense as a whole. If Pierre-Paul doesn't show up on day one, you can expect the Giants to act fast in a number of different ways to get him back on the field.

(h/t Newsday)