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Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Jason Pierre-Paul can’t sleep at night.
Pierre-Paul has been dealing with a shoulder injury for most of the season, but he played in six of the first eight games despite no practice in recent weeks. He’s also been dealing with a broken finger. The Bucs have him listed as questionable for Sunday at Washington.
“I’m barely getting any sleep with this shoulder injury,” Pierre-Paul tweeted. “I’ve had my share of injuries, but this one by far the worst of them all. I already broke my promise to myself, so I’m gonna thug it out until I can’t!”
Pierre-Paul doesn’t want anyone feeling sorry for him though.
“I’m not asking for sympathy, I’m just letting y’all know what it feels like to deal with a torn rotator cuff, but I’ll be fine,” Pierre-Paul tweeted. “They can’t do it like me!!!”
Pierre-Paul has 2.5 sacks, three pass deflections, a forced fumble, and 21 tackles in six games this season. That’s with minimal practice for the 12th-year veteran who joined the Bucs in 2018.
Bucs head coach Bruce Arians confirmed Pierre-Paul will continue sitting out practice during the week.
“JPP’s rotator cuff isn’t going to heal,” Arians told WDAE. “He’s a warrior, but he won’t practice much the rest of the year to play on Sunday.”
The Bucs also have rookie linebacker Joe Tryon-Shoyinka filling in for Pierre-Paul where needed. Tryon-Shoyinka has 13 tackles, two sacks, and a pass deflection.
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Pierre-Paul’s Horrifying Off-Field Injuries
Pierre-Paul has made a career of coming back from any unusual injury and playing through it.
He lost multiple fingers in a July 4 fireworks accident in 2015. Sports Illustrated’s Jason Buckland detailed his story in 2016. The story contains graphic images of his hand injuries from the fireworks.
“I carry myself differently,” Pierre-Paul told Buckland about the accident. “I look at things differently. I try not to put myself in horrible situations anymore. I have a lot of people depending on me — even people I didn’t know depended on me.”
Pierre-Paul unfortunately ended up in another horrifying incident — an auto accident in 2019 that caused a broken neck. While he could have missed the 2019 season, he skipped surgery and played as Laine detailed.
Bucs’ DC Todd Bowles on Managing J.P.P.
Bowles said keeping Pierre-Paul on the field the rest of the season will take a delicate balance.
“We never want anybody playing that’s injured, but certain warriors can play and do certain things with certain injuries and his mindset is to go until he can’t go anymore,” Bowles told the media on Thursday. “It’s up to us as coaches to make sure we monitor that to make sure he’s doing all the right things when he’s in the game and especially getting treatment off the field. So, we’ve been monitoring that.”
Bowles said Pierre-Paul attends practice each day, which means the veteran linebacker at least gets mental reps.
“He’s a warrior,” Bowles said. “I can’t do much to help him. He has to get treatment and it’s about how much pain you can play with as a player.”
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