With the Jones trade, rumors are rampant regarding cuts and trades to reduce teams salary caps, post June 1st. Sterling Shepard is listed as one of his potential cuts or trades.
Pro Football Network: NFL Post- June 1st Cut or Trade Candidates - (
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I agree. This is nothing more than a shallow reaction to our off-season moves.
Amari Cooper is way more overrated (and overpaid). Landry too.
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But I doubt they cut him simply because the position is weak and there is no fat to trim so to speak.
Amari Cooper is way more overrated (and overpaid). Landry too.
I meant on the Giants, but I would also disagree with your examples as those two have actually had years of starter-level production.
End of the day he averages like 5 missed games per season and only 9 yards per catch and has never lead us to a record that even sniffed .500 but alrighty...
If someone offers a day 2 pick (maybe even day 3) and will pay the majority of his salary... he should be out the door in a hurry, just my opinion.
I want to see Ross and Toney with the ball in their hands before Shepard... they are way more dangerous...
Has Shepard ever made anyone miss after a catch? Ok I'm done...
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In comment 15281685 widmerseyebrow said:
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But I doubt they cut him simply because the position is weak and there is no fat to trim so to speak.
Amari Cooper is way more overrated (and overpaid). Landry too.
I meant on the Giants, but I would also disagree with your examples as those two have actually had years of starter-level production.
If you're restricting it to the Giants, that's fair. But SS was a solid #2 in 2018 (his last healthy season). Cooper's a better WR than SS, not he's not twice as good and certainly not worth $20M per (still the 4th highest paid WR).
Landry is maybe marginally better, he just gets more volume. Certainly not worth 50% more than SS though.
The question is what value would he have with his injury history but you never know. Some team who plans on competing loses a couple WR's maybe they pursue.
One example. - ( New Window )
Only point I'd quibble over, is that getting a WR that can give you 900 yds/year when healthy is worthy of the #40 slot. Even his 2nd contract was solid for that level of production. His problems are: 1) Michael Thomas went a few picks later and 2) he can't play 16 games.
I'd agree with that. There's no need for hyperbole to say he's extremely good or that he's overrated. I bet for his draft position, he's been an average player. He's a solid WR who is dependable when he plays. He's also been an injured player who probably should have not been resigned at the price.
Beyond that when you start adding things in like cap hits, dead money and his other intangibles (leadership, blocking) it tells us we're better off keeping him.
Next offseason, maybe, but he plays this year for us.
Exactly, they would take a huge cap hit. Next year I think he may be cut if they need money for other areas. Not this season. It would be flushing money down the toilet. Shepard is a solid player when healthy.
His second contract wasn't awful when announced but looking back now he likely didn't earn all of it. But always puts forth good effort when he plays, decent hands and hustling downfield blocker too.
Still has enough shake that he can get open from slot or multiple receiver formation. Just never has enough bake as too often slips and stumbles on his breaks/cuts moving upfield.
His second contract wasn't awful when announced but looking back now he likely didn't earn all of it. But always puts forth good effort when he plays, decent hands and hustling downfield blocker too.
Still has enough shake that he can get open from slot or multiple receiver formation. Just never has enough bake as too often slips and stumbles on his breaks/cuts moving upfield.
Good summary, totally agree.
I'm not doomsday forecasting, nor am I pessimistic about our team. But cutting Shepard would be hella' optimistic about our personnel.
The flip side to that argument is that Shepard might be the WR most likely to be that injury.
It's not like he's the epitome of reliable availability on the injury report.
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Has Shepard ever made anyone miss after a catch? Ok I'm done...
Yes. Yes he has. One example. - ( New Window )
Your example was from 2017... and he didn't exactly make a man miss... that was speed but ok.
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He is what he was expected to be coming out of Oklahoma. I think he was over-drafted at #40, considering his known limitations, and somewhat overpaid on his second contract. Overall, though, he’s a WYSIWYG player. His draft profile remains accurate five years later. It’s not his fault that the QB and the star receiver he was drafted to complement both went into freefall right around the time he arrived.
Only point I'd quibble over, is that getting a WR that can give you 900 yds/year when healthy is worthy of the #40 slot. Even his 2nd contract was solid for that level of production. His problems are: 1) Michael Thomas went a few picks later and 2) he can't play 16 games.
Except he's never given us 900 yards qx yet alone 900 yds/year... hes gained 800 rec yards 1x in 5 years... this guy was supposed to be the next great slot WR, next Wes Welker type but it hasn't been close to that IMO.
As others said, makes little sense this year.
As others said, makes little sense this year.
I don't know how you can call someone with Shepard's injury history "dependable."
I think that he is another one of the guys, like Engram actually, who can be really good and productive when he is in a complementary role, but suffers when he is forced to be the primary. I really am expecting him to have a great year with Golladay and Toney alongside him.
But if Shepard were to get hurt yet again during the season and miss some games this group is average at best even with Galloday. Until proven otherwise at least.
Except he's never given us 900 yards qx yet alone 900 yds/year... hes gained 800 rec yards 1x in 5 years... this guy was supposed to be the next great slot WR, next Wes Welker type but it hasn't been close to that IMO.
Yes, I rounded his 872 yards up to 900 yds. If you have a true #1 WR (even Golladay-level) and get 900 yds from your slot WR, your offense will be in the upper half of the league.
He's actually been very similar to Welker except for one category: volume. In terms of yards/rec, Shepard is marginally better. And for Shepard's first 3 seasons, the Giants had Beckham. I know who I'd rather give the volume to...
Only once has he averaged less than 10 yards a catch and that was last year at 9.9 y/r.
Golladay is WR1, Toney and Slayton will be given every opportunity to be WR2/WR3 as they are both younger, healthier, and much cheaper than Sheppard.
Add in that Engram (at least this year, I don't think it's likely he'll be back next year) and Barkley will be featured receivers too and... well it's not difficult to see why Sheppard is likely on his way out. Might not be this year, but unless Toney/Slayton BOTH fall on their faces this year it's hard to see him back next year.
What is wrong with having a deeper rotation of WRs on the roster for a change? Wasn't it like just like 2 seasons ago that the Giant WR corps were decimated with issues (injuries, suspension, concussions etc.) to begin the season.
Judge also just mentioned he likes that the personnel in the WR unit all have various dimensions and different depths of strengths. Would like to think that means they can open up the play book and run numerous variations and looks in making the offense more difficult to defend and be more productive. Cutting Shep isn't aligned with that.
Besides, do any of us know right now how much Toney is going to be used in various roles, including running the ball? While I would like to see Toney get plenty of snaps to show off his skills, there is nothing wrong with spelling him in the slot with Shepard too. Its a long season for rookies.
Shepard's deal will likely be looked at next offseason...
I feel like people forget how woefully thin we've been at the position for the last decade plus. We've had some good top 3, but the guys taking spots behind them would be hard pressed to make many NFL rosters. The top end talent isn't great, but we are about as deep as anyone in the league 6 deep right now. Injuries happen and practically every teams top 5 gets significant burn at some point. This is what I really love about this rebuild, we finally have depth. It's what BB does and part of the reason they've been consistently successful. Football is a war of attrition and having rosters of 53 is kind of a joke. Making sure all 53 of those guys can play is important.
I never heard of Ben Rolf. Now I have and that was his goal from the beginning
If the Giants trade Shepard now (post-June 1), they move the 7M of his salary for 2021, and the prorated portion of bonus money doesn't accelerate (stays where it is over the next 2 years).
The net cap saving in 2021 would be 7M. The Giants have comfortable operating space right now, so they'd likely roll that money over or use it as part of extension.
The real question is would anyone pay Sterling Shepard 7M?
He will force Shep to the bench very quickly (with Ross as aback-up). I see him as expendable, but like Christian said, who's going to pay him, if we trade him ?
He will force Shep to the bench very quickly (with Ross as aback-up). I see him as expendable, but like Christian said, who's going to pay him, if we trade him ?
Depends on what the Giants want to do scheme-wise; Garrett could have the five linemen with Rudolph lined up beside them and a four wide receiver set with Golladay, Slayton, Shepard, and Toney.