Head Stakes
Shepard eyes return to Giants' lineup but wary of dangers after concussion
Sterling Shepard believes he is ready to come back.
When doctors will finally agree with him, after Shepard’s second concussion in four weeks, remains to be seen.
The Giants have been without Shepard, their top wide receiver,for their past two games as he recovers from his latest head injury. But he insisted that whenever he does return, he won’t bring the scary potential of another concussion with him onto the field.
“I feel like it’ll affect the way that I play if I think about it,” Shepard told The Post on Tuesday. “If I try to change the way that I play, I won’t be the player that I am. So I’m not going to change anything.”
Shepard said he is symptomfree and has been feeling good for “a couple of weeks now.” He returned to practice last week on a limited basis, but is still waiting for doctors to clear him from the concussion protocol. He is scheduled to meet with them this week, though it is not clear whether he will get the green light before the Giants play Sunday at Detroit.
“I feel 100 percent,” Shepard said at MacArthur Playground in Manhattan, where he was partnering with Pampers to install changing tables as part of Make a Difference Day.
The 26-year-old Shepard had his 1-year-old daughter, Cali Clay, with him at the event. He and his wife, Chanel Iman, are expecting a second child. Being a father has changed Shepard’s perspective on football, he said, giving him “a different reason why you play the game.”
But the concussions are never far from his mind as he recovers from another head injury, given how much is now known about the long-lasting effects of such injuries for NFL players.
“You think about it. It’s in the back of your head,” Shepard said. “But I feel like at this point, it [would] change the way that I play and I’m not going to change the way that I play. I’ve given it a little thought, but I’m ultimately going to do what I love to do.”
Shepard’s first concussion of the season came Week 1 against the Cowboys. He got knocked down and was visibly shaken up, but waved off a substitution and stayed in the game, only to enter the concussion protocol the next day.
The second came in Week 5 against the Vikings. He was pulled from that game and tested for a concussion, but soon returned and said afterward he felt fine. But again, by that Monday, he was back in the protocol.
“It’s just the way the game goes, man,” said Shepard, who has caught 25 passes for 267 yards and a touchdown in four games this season. “I’ve been playing this game for a long time. It’s crazy to see how things have changed with the protocol and stuff like that. It’s pretty strict now. But it’s all for the better, though. I feel like guys need to pay more attention to it.”
The Giants would love to have Shepard back as Daniel Jones’ top target. But his health comes first, no matter how hard it has been for the receiver to stay patient.
“You’ve been grinding all offseason and you’ve gotten a couple games in, get your feet wet, and then having to be sidelined with this, it’s tough,” he said. “But it’s part of the game. It’s the nature of the beast.”