Tag: Sterling Shepard

Can Sterling Shepard make an impact for the Bucs?

Can the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ new veteran addition at wide receiver carve out a significant role in 2024?

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers added more experience to their wide receiver room earlier this week, agreeing to terms with veteran pass-catcher Sterling Shepard on a one-year deal.

Shepard, a college teammate of Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield at Oklahoma, spent the first eight seasons of his NFL career with the New York Giants. He seemed set for retirement before a text from Mayfield sparked what would eventually become a reunion for the former Sooners.

So, will Shepard actually be able to carve out a significant role for himself in Tampa Bay this season.

Pat Donovan and Aaron Jacobson of Tampa’s WDAE recently broke down the topic:

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Sterling Shepard says he ‘always wanted to be a Giant’

Former New York Giants WR Sterling Shepard said he “always wanted to be a Giant” but is looking forward to reuniting with Baker Mayfield.

On Thursday, news broke that former New York Giants wide receiver Sterling Shepard was signing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The move will reunite Step with his college quarterback, Baker Mayfield, who led the Bucs to a playoff win over the Philadelphia Eagles last season.

Shepard, 31, spent the first eight years of his career with the Giants. Although everyone knew he would not be back it will still be strange to see him in another uniform.

Although he did sign elsewhere, Shepard showed loyalty to the team that drafted him when he was asked about signing with Tampa.

“It’s a new scene. I can’t say I wanted to experience that, I always wanted to be a Giant but I’m not mad at it, man. It’s a really good situation, they have a really good football team, really talented football team and I get to be reunited with my boy and get to play with him a little bit,” Shepard told the New York Post.

Shepard shared similar sentiments on Instagram in January.

“Forever grateful to the New York Giants organization, past and present teammates, and the incredible fan base for their unwavering love and support over the past 8 years,” he wrote. “New Jersey, my second home, will forever hold a special place in my heart. Thank you for embracing me with open arms and making me feel like family. Once a Giant, always a Giant!”

In the Giants’ season finale, they honored Shepard and allowed fans to show love to, at the time, the longest-tenured Giant.

Following the season, Shepard said it would have to be the “perfect situation” in order to continue playing. It appears he’s found just that, playing with fellow Oklahoma Sooners alumni, Baker Mayfield.

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Sterling Shepard signs with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Sterling Shepard signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday, reuniting him with QB Baker Mayfield

It’s been nine seasons since [autotag]Sterling Shepard[/autotag] caught passes from [autotag]Baker Mayfield[/autotag], but that is about to change.

The two beloved former Oklahoma Sooners will be playing together once again in the [autotag]NFL[/autotag] after Shepard signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday.

The pair were teammates at Oklahoma in 2014 and 2015. After Mayfield had to sit out the 2014 season due to the transfer rules, he and Shepard lit up the [autotag]Big 12[/autotag] in 2015. OU captured a conference championship, leading to a berth in the [autotag]College Football Playoff[/autotag].

Shepard tallied 11 touchdown catches and nearly 1,300 receiving yards in his senior season, providing OU fans with plenty of memorable moments. His performance in the Sooners comeback win over Tennessee at Neyland Stadium ranks among the best. Shepard recorded seven receptions for 74 yards and two touchdowns to help the Sooners earn the top 25 win.

According to Bucs Wire, Mayfield was instrumental in getting Shepard to Tampa, convincing the veteran wideout to give it one more go in 2024. Mayfield is entering his second season with the Bucs, looking to build on a career year in 2023.

Somewhere, [autotag]Bob Stoops[/autotag] has to be smiling.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Aaron on X @AaronGelvin.

How a text from Baker Mayfield landed Sterling Shepard with the Bucs

The former Oklahoma Sooners teammates are reuniting with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

After eight seasons with the New York Giants, veteran wide receiver Sterling Shepard appeared ready to settle down and just be dad this season.

Then came a text from Baker Mayfield, his former quarterback at the University of Oklahoma.

After a whirlwind of events that followed, Shepard is now set to reunite with Mayfield as a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, having agreed to terms on a one-year deal to play his ninth NFL season.

Shepard sent a long and detailed explanation to NFL insider Josina Anderson about how Mayfield reaching out completely changed his approach to the upcoming season, and eventually landed him with the Bucs instead of retiring:

Shepard brings plenty of valuable experience to the table for Tampa Bay, who had nothing but youth on the depth chart behind star receivers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin.

Now, Mayfield will have a familiar face on the field and in the locker room as the Bucs chase a fourth straight NFC South title.

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Bucs agree to terms with WR Sterling Shepard on 1-year deal

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are adding some more experience to their wide receiver group with Sterling Shepard

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are bringing in some more experience for their pass-catching group, agreeing to terms on a one-year deal with veteran wide receiver Sterling Shepard, per NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo.

Shepard, 31, was a second-round pick in the 2016 NFL draft out of Oklahoma. He spent his entire NFL career with the New York Giants up to this point, tallying 372 receptions for 4,095 yards and 23 touchdowns in 90 regular-season games.

He’ll be reuniting with Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield, who was his college teammate with the Sooners.

Tampa Bay’s veteran starters, Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, now have another experienced receiver in the room to pair with young and promising talents like Trey Palmer and Jalen McMillan as they head into the 2024 season.

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Former Giants WR Sterling Shepard signing with Buccaneers

Former New York Giants WR Sterling Shepard will not retire and is instead signing a one-year deal with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Former New York Giants wide receiver Sterling Shepard is not retiring after all.

Although Shepard considered stepping away from the game following the 2023 regular season, NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reports that he will instead sign a one-year deal with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

In January, Shepard told The Carton Show on FOX Sports that he would need a “perfect situation” in order to return to the field in 2024.

“You’re going to make me say that on here? I just feel like it’s too early for me to answer that right now. You know what I mean? But it’s gotta be a perfect situation for me to come back to the game, to be honest,” Shepard said at the time.

“You know what, it’s been a rough couple of battles with us and the Eagles so, I definitely, if this is the end of my career, what a way to go out.”

A second-round pick of the Giants in the 2016 NFL draft, Shepard appeared in 90 games (74 starts), recording 372 receptions for 4,095 yards and 23 touchdowns. He added an additional 186 yards and one touchdown on 24 carries

Shepard’s 372 career regular season receptions are fifth-most in Giants franchise history.

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Which Sooners could have been on the cover of EA Sports NCAA football during its absence?

With EA Sports NCAA Football returning, which Oklahoma Sooners could have graced the cover during their hiatus since 2015.

EA Sports did what many thought was impossible by announcing it would bring back its college football video game series. After a hiatus that will have spanned at least 10 years come July, the newest version of the beloved game series will return sometime in the summer of 2024.

The last one to drop before the series ended came out in July 2013. NCAA 14 is one of the most iconic sports video games of all time because of the attachment many have to it. Its resale value has never been higher.

The reason for the original cancellation of the series? Name, image and likeness — a hot-button topic that eventually led to NIL being accepted into collegiate sports.

EA Sports couldn’t figure out how to compensate players because it wasn’t legal in that era of collegiate athletics. That hurdle has been cleared and the game looks headed for a summer release date.

Who gets the distinction of being the game’s cover athlete in its resurrection? It’s always a fun and exciting debate when new sports games come out. Former Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson graced NCAA 14’s cover. Since the last game, college football has had iconic athletes that would’ve been perfect fits to be cover athletes.

Our friends at College Wire went through and named which players they thought would have been great fits as cover athletes for the years we didn’t have a game. We decided to do the same, but only with Oklahoma players for those years. Take a look below.

Top 20 Oklahoma Sooners of all-time in receiving yards

Top 20 Oklahoma Sooners in career receiving yards.

Since the turn of the century, the Oklahoma Sooners have recruited, developed, and produced some of the best wide receivers in college football. The air-raid revolution, combined with Oklahoma’s ability to recruit allowed wide receivers to put up monster numbers in Norman.

Of the top 20 players in receiving yards in Oklahoma history, 17 of them played for the Sooners during the [autotag]Bob Stoops[/autotag] or [autotag]Lincoln Riley[/autotag] eras. The four that didn’t were [autotag]Stephen Alexander[/autotag], [autotag]Corey Warren[/autotag], and [autotag]Eddie Hinton[/autotag].

Considering how little the teams threw the football when Hinton played, it’s pretty incredible they were able to put up the numbers they did. With Drake Stoops career year in 2023, legendary tight end Keith Jackson fell out of the top 20. Jackson played at a time when they didn’t throw the ball a ton, but his athleticism and speed allowed him to make the most of his opportunities.

Who knows what his numbers would look like in a modern offense. Imagine Brock Bowers but with even bigger numbers.

Half of the players in the top 20 in receiving yards averaged 15 or more yards per reception.

No player with at least 75 receptions in their Sooners career averaged more yards per reception than [autotag]Marvin Mims[/autotag] 19.5 per catch. His first 1,000-yard season in 2022 helped him reach eighth all-time in receiving yards at the University of Oklahoma.

[autotag]DeMarco Murray[/autotag]’s 1,571 receiving yards puts him 20th all-time.

Nic Anderson looks like the next player to enter the top 20, if he’s able to recreate his breakout 2023 season in 2024. By the end of his Sooners career, he could be flirting with the top 10 in career receiving yards at the University of Oklahoma.

Here’s an updated look at Oklahoma’s top 20 Sooners in receiving yards all time.

Giants’ Sterling Shepard opens up about infamous boat photo

New York Giants WR Sterling Shepard, the lone remaining member from the infamous “boat picture,” opens up about the viral image.

It’s a story that simply won’t go away — this 2016 ‘boat trip’ excursion down to Florida by the New York Giants receivers before a big playoff game.

During a recent appearance on the 2nd Wind Podcast, Sterling Shepard, the only remaining player from that trip who is still on the Giants’ roster, was asked once again about the ill-advised jaunt which was followed by the Giants getting trounced, 38-13, by the Green Bay Packers in the Wild Card round.

“We didn’t put out the picture,” Shepard said, as transcribed by Sports Illustrated. “To be honest, everybody went out that night; it’s just that most guys went into the city. Me, O (Odell Beckham Jr.), Victor (Cruz), and Roger (Lewis), we had the means to go get a (private jet) and go to Miami for the night.

“Now, we didn’t know the PJ was going to have malfunctions and not be able to get back when we were supposed to be back, but yeah, we just took it to Miami. Which, in hindsight, all the distractions that it caused, I would take that part about it back, but we had a good time, and we had two weeks before the playoff game.”

Many believed the trip was the beginning of the deep problems the organization would endure after the “parting of wats” with Tom Coughlin after the 2015 season.

And the loss that started it all will always be connected with that dreaded boat picture.

“We knew we were going to have to play a perfect game, and if not, it was going to be blamed on that, and we didn’t play a perfect game. We didn’t play a good game at all,” Shepard says.

The Giants have had five head coaches and even more coordinators since Coughlin left the building. They have been among the NFL’s cellar dwellers the past decade sans a trip to the playoffs last year.

But they sunk right back down to the bottom of the league this season amid injuries and dysfunction leading fans to again question if the club is headed in the right direction.

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Sterling Shepard would need ‘perfect situation’ to continue NFL career

Sterling Shepard’s time with the Giants is almost certainly over and he’d need a “perfect situation” in order to continue his NFL career.

As the conclusion of the 2023 season neared, it became apparent that wide receiver Sterling Shepard, the New York Giants’ longest-tenured player, was likely on his way out.

Shepard was given a proper send-off in the Giants’ season finale — one which Shepard fully embraced while moving into fifth place on the franchise’s all-time receptions list.

Following the regular season finale, Shepard took to Instagram to say farewell to Giants fans.

This week, Shepard was a guest on The Carton Show on FOX Sports and was asked about the possibility of continuing his career.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2PqUDgrhiw/

“You’re going to make me say that on here? I just feel like it’s too early for me to answer that right now. You know what I mean? But it’s gotta be a perfect situation for me to come back to the game to be honest,” Shepard said.

“You know what, it’s been a rough couple of battles with us and the Eagles so, I definitely, if this is the end of my career, what a way to go out.”

It’s interesting to ponder what the perfect situation would be for Shepard. Possibly a place like San Francisco or Miami, where Shepard could add depth to a team with two of the league’s most dynamic receivers.

Shep could also bring value to a Kansas City Chiefs team that’s scarce at the wide receiver position despite being a Super Bowl contender every year. Patrick Mahomes would also provide Shepard with the best quarterback he’s ever played with.

Shepard brought a ton of value to the Giants over the last few years, helping the youth in the wide receiver room, and will certainly be missed both in the locker room and by the fans.

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