Giants coach Tom Coughlin said that the team has decided they want defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul back for 2015, something that may require them to use the franchise tag to keep him off the open market as a free agent.
It looks like they’ll be saying goodbye to another member of their defensive front to give themselves a little extra money to put toward that effort. Kimberly Jones of NFL Media reports that the team has informed defensive end Mathias Kiwanuka that he’ll be released.
With a $4.775 million salary and cap hit north of $7 million on the books for 2015, Kiwanuka was an obvious candidate for release this offseason. Kiwanuka, who took a pay cut last offseason to hold onto his roster spot, is coming off a season-ending knee injury that limited him to 11 games in 2014 and he’s generated 15 sacks over the last four seasons for a team that needs to get more from their pass rush in 2015.
Kiwanuka’s departure leaves the Giants with two players on the roster -- quarterback Eli Manning and long snapper Zak DeOssie -- who were a part of both Super Bowl champions in the Tom Coughlin era.
UPDATE 4:08 p.m. ET: The Giants have announced Kiwanuka’s release.
