Giants owner on player who injured himself in a July 4 fireworks accident: 'I don't know how many fingers he has'

New York Giants owner John Mara provided the quote of the NFL preseason when talking about the Jason Pierre-Paul situation at training camp on Thursday.

Pierre-Paul was in a fireworks accident on July 4. He reportedly lost a finger and fractured a thumb in the accident, but the Giants don't actually know that for sure.

Since he's technically a free agent because he hasn't signed the team's $14.8 million franchise tender, Pierre-Paul is under no obligation to talk to the Giants or let them check out his hand. The team sent two employees to Florida to see JPP in the hospital, and he refused to see them. He also hasn't responded to a text from coach Tom Coughlin, the coach claims.

According to ESPN he's working out by himself and won't sign the franchise tender until he's confident he can pass a team physical. It makes total sense, but it has created a weird situation where the Giants — his presumed employer — are completely in the dark on the state of his hand.

At training camp, Mara put it bluntly, "I don't know how many fingers he has."

He also said this:

Coughlin told SI's Jenny Vrentas, "I want to help. I want to be there for him. But he's decided that he doesn’t want our help."

Mara has said the same thing, telling the New York Post that Pierre-Paul is getting some bad advice and he should rejoin the team immediately.

Despite these appeals from the team, Pierre-Paul seems to be doing the right thing here. If he came back before he was fully healthy the team could place him on the non-football injury list and refuse to pay him for games missed. But if he came back and passed a physical, the team couldn't put him on the NFI list. ESPN's Dan Graziano says Pierre-Paul is going to come back "sooner than expected."

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