Making the rounds on ESPN yesterday, defensive end [Jason Pierre-Paul popped on SportsCenter in the afternoon and talked everything from his family and Super Bowl to Eli Manning hosting Saturday Night Live and preparing for 2012.
And with the first round of the draft kicking off tomorrow night, the defensive end gave some advice to the potential draftees.
"Honestly, I'd tell them this is the biggest job interview that they're going to ever have in their life," said Pierre-Paul, who was drafted 15th overall out of South Florida in 2010. "So take it. They already had the combine, which hopefully they performed well in, and once you get in, just stay in and be like that 20-year-old kid just trying to make the team."
Pierre-Paul notched 4.5 sacks as a rookie and increased that number to 16.5 last season.
"I started jotting down things, writing things down," he said. "Then the players started talking to me more – the defensive linemen guys – and just took it from there. I just kept coming in asking coaches questions, basically took it from there and ran with it."
The 2011 Pro Bowl selection said he doesn't target won't be targeting a specific sack total over the offseason.
"Not at all, not at all," he continued. "I just try to do better than what I did last year. I try to do better, like this year I'm going to try to do better and get more than 16."
The hot topic around the Giants community -- and the NFL world as a whole -- has been the announcement of Manning hosting SNL. Pierre-Paul, although on the other side of the ball, knows his quarterback is up for it.
"Eli is a pretty funny guy, even when you least expect it," he said. "Eli is quiet, but…he makes riddles and tries to make the guys figure it out. He comes to me, and I'm like, 'I don't want to hear it, call on somebody else.' But he's a pretty funny guy all around."
Pierre-Paul then touched on his family. His father, who immigrated to the United States from Haiti before he was born, lost his sight when Pierre-Paul was nine months old. Super Bowl XLVI was the first NFL game he attended.
"After we won, I was looking for my parents," Pierre-Paul said. "It took me a long time to find them, but I finally found them. We celebrated, and they were so happy to be there. It was my dad's first game and he understands everything. So that was a good thing just having them there and playing for them."
QUICK HITS>> Peter King: The Big Blue Blueprint. While football nation shifts into draft overdrive, the Giants go about business their own way, with no headlines and no hype. How has the recent two-time Super Bowl winner been built? Through teamwork among the decision makers—and a knack for finding treasures in the late rounds and beyond
Was Eli Manning a part of the greatest first round ever? [NFL.com]
