STERLING PRODUCTION
McAdoo: Shepard has exceeded expectations in rookie season
Sterling Shepard has been everything the Giants hoped for — and then some.
Expectations already were high, considering the Giants used the 40th overall pick on the Oklahoma product, but Shepard enters the finale of his first NFL regular season Sunday in Washington with coach Ben McAdoo publicly raving about him. And that never happens. “He’s been highly productive for us,” the usually circumspect Giants boss said Friday. “We haven’t played as well as we like to as an offense and we’ve been inconsistent in spots, but I think he stepped it up. He’s going to continue to get better. He’s a work in progress like a lot of young players. It’ll be encouraging to see him grow here over the next phase of the season.”
Shepard’s receiving numbers aren’t exactly mind-blowing (62 catches for 653 yards), but he has eight touchdowns — including three in the past four games — and has been so promising he is likely to make Victor Cruz expendable in the offseason.
So much for rookie jitters. Shepard caught a touchdown pass in his first regular-season game, a 20-19 win in Week 1 over the eventual NFC East champion Cowboys, and has never looked back.
Shepard was the picture of relaxed and confident Friday as the 10-5 Giants prepared to face the 86-1 Redskins on Sunday in Landover, Md., in a game meaningless to Big Blue but will decide Washington’s season.
“When I first came in, going through rookie minicamp, it was kind of the same thing as college,” Shepard said. “Then, going to camp with the regular guys, it picked up a lot. You get used to it over that time. Whenever you hit the games, you’ve been used to it. It’s football, something I’ve been doing my whole life.”
Shepard’s emergence has been even more impressive considering he has had to play in the considerable shadow of Odell Beckham Jr., who has been the target of a whopping 45 percent of Eli Manning’s 360 passes this season.
But Beckham and Cruz were willing to show Shepard the ropes from Day 1, though Cruz realized Shepard eventually could take his job, and Shepard credits that with boosting his performance as a rookie.
“It’s been a blessing, just having those guys take me in like a brother,” said Shepard, the son of late Cowboys wide receiver Derrick Shepard. “They taught me a lot not only on the field but off the field as well.”
The high point for Shepard came early, when he caught eight passes for 117 yards — including a 32-yard grab — in a Week 2 victory over the Saints.
Shepard hasn’t been over 100 yards since, prompting him to continually put a bug in McAdoo’s ear about being allowed to run more deep routes to take advantage of his quickness.
“I would like to make more plays downfield,” Shepard said. “I’ve told Coach McAdoo that I want [run] a deep post, but he tells me I’m a more over-the-middle guy. That means I have to make stuff happen after the catch, which I could get better at, as well.”
Now Shepard is headed to the playoffs in his first NFL season, which he realizes makes him lucky considering some of his teammates have played nearly a decade in the league before finally reaching the postseason.
“I was talking to [Manning] about it the other day, and he was just telling me that he thought it was a given when he came into the league,” Shepard said. “Then he went a few years dry without making the playoffs.
“People go nine, 10 years playing in the league and don’t make it at all. For it to be my first year making it, it’s a blessing. We just have to seize it, take it all in and execute.”