New York Giants Training Camp Player Preview: WR Sterling Shepard

Sterling Shepard is coming back from a late-season Achilles injury. Does he have much more to give the offense?

 

Giants wide receiver Sterling Shepard played for his home state Oklahoma Sooners, before they were known for their incredible passing offense. Shepard’s senior season, which saw him reel in 86 catches for 1,288 yards and 11 touchdowns, was the first year that Lincoln Riley was offensive coordinator. Also worth noting is that Baker Mayfield was in his first season as the starting quarterback after his transfer from Texas Tech.

Shepard wasn’t the first member of his family to play for Oklahoma. His father Derrick roamed the gridiron for the Sooners and is why Sterling wore No. 3 both in college and now in the pros, to honor his father, who tragically passed away in 1999 when his children were still young.  

Sterling Shepard was a highly-coveted receiver in the 2016 NFL Draft, going in the second round to the New York Giants with the 40th overall pick. Shepard is the longest-tenured Giants player on the roster and has been a starting receiver since he joined the team.

Shepard has been injury-bitten throughout his entire NFL career, but when healthy, he’s been a bright spot through some dark years for the franchise. The most recent injury for Shepard is a torn Achilles suffered in Week 15 against the Dallas Cowboys and an injury from which he is still recovering.

Shepard has the eighth-most receptions in Giants history, and is ranked 17th in receiving yards and 21st in receiving touchdowns.

Danielle Parhizkaran/NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK

What He Offers

Shepard has made a career out of being a reliable route runner that excels as an option over the middle of the field in the short and intermediate areas.

In 2021, 52.8 percent of Shepard’s targets came between the numbers and within 20 yards from the line of scrimmage. In 2020, when Shepard played 12 games (as opposed to his seven games in 2021), 56.8 percent of Shepard’s targets were in that same range.

Positionally, Shepard is better suited to working out of the slot than working out wide. But with a more spread-style offense in 2022, he should be able to find success from wherever he lines up.

After the catch, Shepard has proven his ability to pick up extra yardage. He has 3,947 receiving yards in his career, with 35 percent coming after the catch with 36 forced missed tackles.

Outside of the passing attack, Giants head coach Brian Daboll has shown his willingness to get receivers involved in the run game while he was the Bills’ offensive coordinator. Throughout his career, Shepard has found success as a runner. On his 23 career carries, Shepard has picked up 180 yards and a touchdown with eight gains of 10 yards or more.

Shepard hasn’t been a special teams contributor in his career, and that shouldn’t be expected to change this season.

 

Danielle Parhizkaran/NorthJersey.com via USA Today Sports.

His Contract

Shepard is entering the final year of his contract with the Giants. Shepard is currently carrying a cap of $6,303,824 which is 3.1% of the Giants' salary cap. If the Giants were to release Shepard, they would not save any money as there would be a dead money value of $8,490,000.

Originally, Shepard was set to enter free agency after the 2023 season, but in March of 2022, he negotiated his contract to a more team-friendly deal that cleared up cap space for the Giants in 2022 and voided the last year of his contract.

Shepard will still carry a cap hit of $4,245,000 in 2023, worth 1.9% of the Giants' salary cap, even if he isn’t on the roster anymore.

Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports

Roster Projection/Expectations

Determining the impact that Shepard will have is his durability is the most difficult part. The best ability is availability, and he hasn’t been able to stay available, but when he’s healthy, there are few more reliable receivers in the NFL.

Shepard’s contract makes it difficult to justify getting rid of him regardless of durability concerns. In his career, Shepard has had at least 55 catches every season except for 2022, when he finished with 36 catches in seven games.

In 2022, if he’s healthy, the expectation for Shepard should be as an inside-out receiver that starts on this Giants team alongside Kenny Golladay and Kadarius Toney. Shepard’s natural home is in the slot, but with Toney and now Wan’Dale Robinson on the roster, and them both being significantly better-suited for the slot, Shepard will likely have to play more as an outside receiver in 2022.

It’s more likely than not that 2022 will be Shepard’s last season as a Giant, given the rest of the makeup of the receiver room and the contract he could likely command in free agency.

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