Pierre-Paul refused to be seen by the Giants’ medical staff while he recovered in the hospital. According to ESPN.com’s Dan Graziano, the problem may be much more serious.

The Giants have a franchise tender waiting for a signature from Pierre-Paul, but he has yet to sign it, considering he was hoping for a new contract prior to the accident. Pierre-Paul can file a grievance, but because it’s a non-football related injury, his chance of winning it would be low.

At the least, it appears obvious that Pierre-Paul will miss the first few weeks of the regular season, and that’s a conservative estimate. The defensive end’s camp spent months pushing the narrative that he’d make a swifter-than-expected return to action, insisting immediately after the accident that he could return for the season opener. There is simply no way for them to know when Pierre-Paul will be ready to play, or how good he will be once ready. When he was in East Rutherford, New Jersey, this past week, Pierre-Paul offered to play if the team could outfit him with a protective device for his hand.

Despite the latest reports, the Giants remain open to a Pierre-Paul return – if he can get healthy. But given the cost of paying Pierre-Paul on the franchise tag (about $871,000 per game), the Giants didn’t want to put him on the field at less than 100 percent. Such a move would end his season, although the Giants would not need to pay him.

As Barry wrote, JPP avoided the Giants until now to prevent them from putting him on the preseason Non-Football Injury List, which would have prevented him from playing or getting paid until Week 7.