Giants re-sign WR Sterling Shepard to one-year contract
Sterling Shepard #3 of the Giants runs the ball after a reception during the fourth quarter against the Carolina Panthers at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, Sep. 18, 2022. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Sterling Shepard will get his wish.
Near the end of the 2022 Giants season, Shepard told Newsday that he wanted to play again in 2023. He said he particularly wanted to be catching passes from Daniel Jones.
Thanks to a reworked one-year contract, Shepard will get that chance.
He announced his return to the Giants with these words on social media Sunday: “God’s plan. Let’s get it.”
A popular leader and presence in the locker room, Shepard will be back for an eighth season.
And he’s probably due for a little luck. Shepard’s last two seasons have been ended prematurely by injury.
In December 2021, he tore an Achilles tendon in a game against the Cowboys. In September 2022, he tore an ACL on the last play of the game, again against the Cowboys.
Shepard remained engaged throughout the 2022 season. That he’s back in the fold is not completely surprising. “Love Shep,” general manager Joe Schoen said at the season-ending news conference. “He’s awesome.”
Schoen also referred to Shepard as “a tremendous resource around here for us.”
Indeed. Consider, he was drafted by the Giants in the second round with the 40th overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft.
During the season, coach Brian Daboll described Shepard as “an energy-giver [who] lifts everybody up.”
Jones and Shepard have a great relationship, and Shepard has had a unique perspective on Jones’ four NFL seasons. The two would talk through plays, some that Jones liked, others that he didn’t. There is trust.
“It’s been tough because he’s never been in the same offense for more than two years,” Shepard told Newsday toward the end of the 2022 season. “People don’t look at that and take that into account. I understand that. The way he’s handled this first year in this offense speaks to who he is and how he works. You want to be out there with people who work like that. I want to catch as many passes as I can from that dude. He’s a baller.”
Kimberly Jones covers the Giants for Newsday, a beat she first worked in the early 2000s before joining the YES Network to cover the Yankees. She worked for the NFL Network for more than a decade and has been heard semi-regularly on WFAN.
