New York Giants wide receiver Sterling Shepard made his return to the field on Friday night, less than a year removed from a torn ACL and two years removed from a ruptured Achilles tendon.
Either one of those injuries is potentially career-ending, but the veteran Shepard has been determined to battle back from each. He wants to go out on his own terms and not be forced to leave the game due to injury.
Combined with a relentlessly positive attitude, that has inspired Shepard’s Giants teammates. And when he finally took the field against the Carolina Panthers, there were smiles all around.
From the coaches to the players to the fans, everyone was happy to see Shepard back in uniform.
“It’s extremely impressive,” quarterback Daniel Jones said of Shepard’s return. “He’s worked really hard to get back and yeah, he’s been a big-time player for us these past few years when he’s been healthy. He’s worked hard to get back and made a lot of plays in practice and then looked good tonight, too. So, it’s extremely impressive.”
Shepard took 17 snaps in his return, which was two more than head coach Brian Daboll intended for him. But when all was said and done, the Giants’ longest-tenured receiver came out of the game clean, having caught his lone target for six yards.
“I kept asking him how he’s doing because I think he was at about 12 snaps right before the two-minute, so I wanted to be around 15 with him. But he’s such a good teammate and such a competitor. I’m always checking with him, how’s he doing on the sideline, are you good to go and he’s competitive as always,” Daboll said.
“He has looked good. The credit is to him. But I’d say the credit is to our medical department, Ronnie Barnes and Leigh Weiss and all of our trainers, our sports science because he is a guy that wants to just go, go, go and as a coach, you always want the guys to go. But I think that our medical team from the physicians to the trainers to the sports science, they’ve done a fantastic job all camp of really managing the players the way they think each player needed to be managed and each of them were, I’d say, individual cases.”
Tight end Darren Waller, who is new to the team this year, has also been impressed with Shepard as both a person and a player. And even before Shepard’s remarkable return on Friday night, the veteran tight end had taken note of him.
“I feel like Shep’s been looking great at practice,” Waller said.
Some continue to insist that Shepard is on the roster bubble but that doesn’t seem to be the case. The Giants love Shepard’s leadership and locker room value as much as his play and there’s no denying that when healthy, he’s still the team’s best wide receiver.
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