The Tampa Bay Buccaneers added a potentially game-changing player to their struggling defense, and Jason Pierre-Paul is ready to show people he’s still got “it.”
Pierre-Paul opened up about his return to the NFL ahead of the Bucs’ crucial Thursday Night Football game against the Atlanta Falcons at Raymond James Stadium.
Pierre-Paul is, of course, a Deerfield Beach native and alum of the Tampa-based University of South Florida. He also helped the Bucs win the Super Bowl during the 2020 season, logging 9.5 regular-season sacks and two in the postseason in the NFC Championship Game against the Green Bay Packers.
Pierre-Paul has 94.5 sacks and 127 tackles for loss in 182 NFL games.
The Bucs (7-6) are tied with the Carolina Panthers for the NFC South lead but have lost four of their past five games. Tampa Bay is allowing 29.4 points per game in those past five games.
Jason Pierre-Paul Is Back With The Buccaneers
The Buccaneers are tied for 13th in the NFL in sacks (32) but have only seven over their past five games. Thus, they offered Pierre-Paul a tryout Monday, ahead of the game Thursday, and signed him to a prorated one-year contract.
“I feel good,” Pierre-Paul said. “It’s an opportunity given, and I’ll make the best of it.”
Pierre-Paul last played two seasons ago, when he split three games between the New Orleans Saints and Miami Dolphins. But his last full season was in 2022 with the Baltimore Ravens, when he had three sacks and five tackles for loss in 14 games for the team that went 10-7 but lost to the Cincinnati Bengals in the wild-card round.
Pierre-Paul had made a push to come back, one that resulted in him signing at home with the Bucs. He credited his personal trainer for pushing him to get back and said he is “not in the best shape of my whole career but damn near.”
“I’ve been just grinding,” Pierre-Paul said. “Obviously I’ve been wanting to play football since the beginning of the year, but the opportunity comes, and here I am.”
Pierre-Paul is 36 and has been beset by injuries, including his infamous fireworks-hand injury and a neck injury sustained in a car accident six years ago.
Still, he is ready to show the world that he can still play.
“You’ve got to wait and see,” Pierre-Paul said. “I can still have it. I might not have it. What do you think?”
Jason Pierre-Paul Is Excited To Meet Some Of His New Teammates
The Buccaneers have a veteran-laden lineup on both sides of the ball, with his former teammates Vita Vea, Lavonte David, Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and others.
So the two-time Super Bowl champion — he also won the title in his second season for the New York Giants — and is excited to rejoin his former teammates, and meet the new ones, while trying to help the Bucs claim the NFC South for the fifth straight year.
“When I step in here, it’s more like family,” Pierre-Paul said. “I’m going to try to get to know everybody on the team and try to connect with them some way or somehow.
“It’s going to be awesome.”
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