Jason Pierre-Paul was the victim of an unfortunate incident on the Fourth of July, in which the New York Giants pass rusher had his hand injured by fireworks, resulting in him having a finger amputated.
This is the first time since 1986 that anything like this has happened. The person involved then? 49ers Hall of Fame safety Ronnie Lott.
“He’ll be able to play with it and he’ll learn how to deal with it,” Lott said after hearing of Pierre-Paul's situation, according to the New York Daily News.
Lott's finger was crushed on the helmet of Dallas Cowboys running back Timmy Newsome. Rather than miss time, Lott decided to have his pinky amputated so he could return for the playoffs.
The 49ers nine-time Pro Bowl defender did caution Pierre-Paul, however.
“But the moment of not seeing it, the moment of looking at your hand and looking down and realizing you have that phantom [finger], where you use your finger but you don’t see it, there’s a lot of things emotionally that he’ll have to deal with. He’ll have to learn how to understand that it’s not there and that there are things that will play tricks on his mind.”
