Tom Rock: Jets' Sterling Shepard feeling right at home in familiar area
Former Giants WR Sterling Shepard reacts on the sidelines late in the fourth quarter against the Philadelphia Eagles at MetLife Stadium on Jan. 7, 2024. Credit: Jim McIsaac
FLORHAM PARK, NJ – Sterling Shepard spent Sunday at home in Florida, trying to keep his daughters, now 8 and 6, quiet enough so he could watch the NFL games on his first opening day without a team since before he was drafted by the Giants a decade ago. He sat on the cusp of that exiled retirement and watched his buddy Baker Mayfield play for Tampa Bay, his old teammate Daniel Jones quarterback the Colts, and he tuned in to see what Odell Beckham Jr. and the Giants could do that night.
His biggest takeaway from the experience, though, was about himself.
“I heard that sound,” the 33-year-old told Newsday of the symphony of whistles blowing, shoulder pads popping, and crowds cheering, “and I was like Dang, I miss it.”
As luck would have it, the next day, while he was dropping the girls at school, his phone rang. It was the Jets. They had just lost rookie receiver Omar Cooper Jr. to a week-to-week ankle injury in their win over the Titans. Could he get on a plane to come up for a workout?
On Monday evening he landed in New Jersey. On Tuesday morning he went through a free-agent workout for the team. On Tuesday night he signed to the practice squad. And on Wednesday he was back on the field running routes with the full roster for a team from the city where his NFL journey began.
“I feel at home,” he said, noting that he knows not just the geography but several players, too, including Geno Smith (they connected on three passes for 56 yards in Smith’s one memorable start for the Giants in 2019), Breece Hall, and former Giants safety Dane Belton with whom he plays golf. “It’s good, bro.”
Said Smith: “It’s great to see an old teammate back in the locker room again.” Smith also knows Shepard is in shape since they are neighbors in Florida and train together in the offseason.
Shepard did spend about a week this summer in training camp with the Texans.
He crammed the playbook in a few days and played 33 snaps in the last preseason game for them while their starters rested, catching two passes for seven yards. “I was like, ‘If Odell can do it, I can do it,’” he said.
The Texans gig didn’t last. He was cut.
“I appreciated the opportunity,” Shepard said. “It was just good to get out of the house and I had fun.”
Here with the Jets, he wants a little more than that.
“I want to help the team,” Shepard said. “I don’t want to remain on the practice squad, but if that’s the case, then I’ll try to get everybody ready for the week. If it’s being on the field on Sundays, I’ll try to contribute in whatever way I can.”
He knows the Jets run a lot of tight-end heavy personnel, so his blocking can be put to use.
“But I love to get open, I love to run routes,” he said. “That’s my thing. If I get a chance to do that, I can help there too.”
It may take some time, he admitted, for him to master the offense and for the Jets to gain trust in him. He may be a familiar name in these parts, and to several teammates, but the organization is still a new one. Wednesday was a good first step toward both of those in a practice that he said went well.
One other familiar thing for him Wednesday? He was wearing the No. 87 jersey he began his career with on the Giants before switching to No. 3 later in his tenure there, and then wearing 17 for two seasons with the Bucs.
“I started out in 87,” he said. “I don’t know if this is going to be my last year, but if it is, well, let’s end it in 87 too.”
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
